Angela P.

Neri Ma’am Javier

BSN 309 – Group 2 MAD SKILLS LAB
Movie Review: “What a Beautiful Mind”
It was evident in the non-fiction story of the movie that the protagonist, namely
John Nash, was the only one who suffered in mental disorder that was greatly
emphasized in the beginning of the story, which may seem unnoticeable for others, until
his maladaptive behavior progressed and affected his career towards the end of the
movie. The story began with the life of Nash on his graduate years at Princeton
University wherein most of his schoolmates noticed him being peculiar and weird but
was not bothersome at all for them. This was relevant when they constantly insulted,
especially Hansen, who is known for his numerous publication achievements and as his
fellow co-recipient of the prestigious scholarship, have been a persistent grandiose
person to Nash that greatly impacts his self-perception negatively when he lashed out
inside his room. This room incident became the first indicator of his symptoms wherein
he had avolition on his works and eventually unintentionally harmed himself due to the
uncontrollable pressure he deals with the original process of studying and writing
publications apart from his peers. At the early onset of schizophrenia, flat affect in voice
and facial expression, and unusual body movements such as constant placing of Nash’s
right hand on his forehead whenever he is shy, awkward, and when experiencing an
episode.
Throughout the film, it has been portrayed the gradual manifestation of
anhedonia in which the protagonist often experiences losing interest in his career field
despite the inconsistent achievements and reputation he built as a mathematician that
focused his work on “governing dynamics”. It is worth noting that the fundamental of his
main theory was thought by his keen observance on his everyday life surroundings.
This is relatively linked with schizophrenia causing hyper vigilance which exacerbated
as a simple extension from the paranoia or delusions Nash had with his first imaginary
friend, Charles Herman. The personality of Charles as a roommate figure at the
beginning their encounter in-coincidentally portray as a person of lightheartedness on
things Nash lacked in his life. His ignorance on the stressors felt upon having symptoms
of anhedonia and avolition further progressed as constant appearance of his delusions
during his career life at MIT and occasional work with the Pentagon. Consequently, the
presence of William Parcher, a part of classified personnel part of the Department of
Defense as introduced, who recruited him as a code breaker in the hidden patterns of
codes in the medium of media of the Soviet. It is apparent on the chain of events from
his graduate school years to career life, as well as his family, that the schizophrenic
delusions frequently occurs as he become more invested onto being code breaker
which worsen the symptoms of anhedonia and avolition which tends both the presence
of Parcher and Herman to cross path in his life as he unconsciously dives into these
stressors that led him to the peak of the traumatic relapse during his speech on the
university.
 In response to these behavioral occurrences, the mental condition of Nash
rapidly deteriorates his cognitive thinking due to the old medical practices performed on
his disability through undergoing insulin shock therapy and psychotic medications. It’s
evident that these practices are relatively not acceptable currently in curing mental
disorder as it further compromises the physical and psychological health of the patient.
This debilitating key scenes on portraying schizophrenia does not accurately depicts in
portraying its manifestation such as the degree of capability in understanding that the
medication can affect his thinking, emotions and sex drive with his wife. As the bizarre
behavior and hallucinations produces mental breakdown and cannot instantly make the
patient aware of his disorder. But then again, the main point of the movie is to portray
the life event of John Nash as suffered from schizophrenia yet prevailed as a renowned
mathematician with his honorable Nobel Prize award in his game theory work. As
relevantly statement he said, “The only thing greater than the power of the mind is the
courage of the heart”.

Movie Review: “Silver Linings Playbook”

Silver linings playbook focuses on the life of Pat Solatano, one of the two
protagonists of the movie, after he’s released from a psychiatric hospital due to the
traumatic incident after he nearly beats his wife’s lover to death upon finding them doing
intercourse together at the shower. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with bipolar which
later emphasized on the movie with Pat’s psychiatrist, Dr. Cliff, during their therapy
session that prior the incident, he’s condition was undiagnosed bipolar disorder which
prompted him from mismanagement of his behavioral symptoms such as mood swings
and delusional thinking brought by severe stress. However, in one of the therapy
sessions with his sessions, he significantly verbalized that he’s aware of the actions
caused by his mental illness that affects his family by uncontrollably harming himself
and people around his surroundings. Pat’s manifestation of having relapses of the
shower incident which is linked to their wedding song with his wife, Nikki, became the
triggering medium that causes him to have flashbacks and snaps out due to the
traumatizing feelings he felt that day continuously haunts him. It is significantly
associated with Pat’s manic episodes that he has reduced need for sleep which led to
racing thoughts that was illogical and much irritability. His cognitive abilities were
hindered by his irrational behavior due to being excessively fixed on things and could
not move past them. For example, he is blinded by his goal to see his wife that was
vastly displayed throughout the movie wherein he does everything possible to achieve it
such as breaking multiple restraining orders, lashing out on the verge of breaking things
that apathetically disrupts his parents and neighbors. Moreover, his noncompliance to
intaking atypical and antipsychotics drugs such as lithium worsens the symptoms as he
desires to manage his disorder therapeutically.
It’s also apparent that at the beginning of the movie that the family also suffers from
their own problems, specifically Pat’s father is out of work and is deeps involved in
sports betting that clearly manifests obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It extremely
impairs the behavior by prevalent anxiety occurs in which thoughts that produce
uneasiness, apprehension of fear, accompanied with by repetitive actions aimed at
reducing unpleasant feelings felt. He engages in rigid and rational thinking marked by
superstition embedding within the family to share in belief. This is exhibited in the
scenes when Pat’s father is using his handkerchief as luck charm in a way and
persistently organizing the tv remotes. As story goes in the film, Pat meets Tiffany
Maxwell, the sister of his friend’s wife where she also struggles with borderline
personality disorder. In Tiffany’s case, her disorder was progressed after she unhealthily
coped up with the death of his husband through having multiple sexual relationship on
her workplace which made her lose her job. Her relationship with Pat embarked a love-
hate friendship based primarily on helping each other in achieving goals through their
shared resources, in which for Tiffany was to compete on a dance contest. Her mental
condition is a fine example of being verbally and nonverbally exhibiting a borderline
personality disorder in which she had habitual substance abuse as portrayed in the
scene of drinking vodkas prior their dance performance, which also came with mood
instability and feeling empty most of the time as she honestly became vulnerable on her
story and experience towards Pat.
This movie is not perfect in its portrayal of the mental disorder exhibited by the
characters, considering the depiction of unlikely romance that can develop in between
two mental disable person that are incapable of managing their symptoms during their
recovery time period. Although it does have several accurate aspects onto its individual
symptoms experienced and its progression in the life events and its stressors
contributing on the prognosis or health outcomes of the certain mental disorder. For
instance, according to the DMS-5 (2013) that for someone to be diagnosed with bipolar
disorder, they must experience manic and major depressive episodes. This film seems
to focus more on the manic side to bipolar disorder associated with irritable and
elevated minutes. Consequently, the representation of mental disorders in the film lets
people understand how they function and their unintended unacceptable social
behavior, it helps to reduce the stigma and normalize it.

Movie Review: “Black Swan”

The movie Black Swan depicts the disturbing descent of ballerina, named Nina
Sayers, is a mid to late-20s professional ballerina who was known for her intense
dedication to her craft and for having outstanding technique. Nina lives alone with her
mother in an apartment that kept her sheltered as a little girl by giving her baths and
brushing her hair that undermines every second of her life outside of the world of ballet.
When she landed the role of the Swan queen in a modern dance production of Swan
Lake, Nina had to recognize not only her sweet and tender side but to embrace her
seductive playful adult self. Moreover, it was tearing her apart wherein she failed to
recognize that she could be a sweet woman who also enjoyed pleasure in seduction
lack of self-definition. The pressure of the role combined with her mother's
overprotective presence culminates her mental health and physical problems that she
must navigate as the production moves closer to its premiere date section.
Throughout the film, she has visual auditory and tactile hallucinations. As a
perfectionist that dedicated her life in ballet, she's a master of proper technique which
meek as an observer that struggles with artful expression she socially inhibited. Nina
falls into a deepening state of anxiety she strives to define herself as an individual
separate from the opinions and expectations of others, particularly her mother. It is
apparent that the obsessive-compulsive nature of Nina's have a component to many of
her issues since she has skin picking, which is a disorder within the OCD category of
the DSM-V (2013). She has these obsessions with being perfect and takes these
compulsive precautions to ensure. For instance, dancing until the point of exhaustion as
portrayed in the movie scene would be a compulsion because she's obsessed with the
idea of being perfect. She also clearly has anxiety about eating which purging present
that is a subcategory of OCD as well. But it can be concurrent with her body restriction
whenever she looks at her reflection in a mirror that always reveal a distorted view of
herself. It gets to the point of psychosis that is possibly triggered because she does take
Molly or Ecstasy at one point and is known for triggering a psychotic episode, especially
in people who are already prone to psychosis This became the first moment that she
starts to have visual hallucinations that breaks from reality and can emerge in some
schizophrenic elements that manifests paranoia and visual hallucinations. But Nina’s
condition does not meet the full criteria of schizophrenia and instead as more of an
extreme body dissociation, specifically dissociative disorder, where reality testing is
compromised as evident by the bodily hallucinations in her reflection that broke her
sense of self beyond the realistic body view. Additionally, having some paranoia like
thinking that lily is after her when at the end we see that she’s not.
As young women emerge into their adult roles either as a dancer or as a student,
they lack the pivotal skills to handle the anxiety that is a natural part of any positive
change. Instead, the main protagonist’s downward spiral illustrates their ability to cook
and falter in some rare and extreme cases which they can become psychotic due to
certain factors occur at the same time. These may include new opportunities that may
create anxiety on unfamiliar environments such as going to college that require new
coping skills or even honing the skills we've already been rehearsing. Overall, it be
clinically observed that she has brief psychotic disorder and skin picking disorder with
components of OCD and dissociative body disorder. Nina’s condition learns about the
lessons from mental illness that everything must be done in moderation to have a
balance of the black and white swans of your personality. You cannot compartmentalize
your identities like integrating them. Most importantly, don't chase perfectionism whether
it be in how you look or how you perform. Perfectionism does not exist and if it were to
exist it would be at the cost of your life.