I agree, MG. The vast majority of pranoid schizophrenics do not look at all like John Nash. They're living on streets eating garbage, filling up prison wards, or just pacing in the few after care settings left in this country.
I worked for 6 years as a therapist to the severely mentally ill in the heart of Detroit. We came to realize quite quickly that one of our main goals was to keep people on their medicine. Once our patients stopped taking meds, we could predict nearly 100% of the time that they'd end up back in the state hospital. Many ended up in prison because they'd attempted to harm someone. I can't tell you how many times my life had been threatened by an untreated delusional patient. Contrary to what was written earlier about people being allowed to celebrate whatever type of reality they choose, allowing many schizophrenics to do this (read: being unmedicated), created a much worse scenario for them. They become terrified and act out their delusions to the point of killing themselves or others. You will never forget what it looks like to see sheer terror in the eyes of a pschotic person. And one can only imagine how it must feel. The sad part too, though, was how the side effects of many anti psychotic meds were nearly as troublesome as the mental illness. This was back in the late 70s, early 80s and though meds have improved greatly, there are still problems. The shuffling, the muscle spasms, drooling, sexual disfunctions and more- it's very sad. Schizophrenia is a chronic disabling disease. Few are "cured". So, though I did enjoy A Beautiful Mind and love Russell Crowe's acting, it did not show the average life of a person with that disease. But then again, Nash was not a typical sort of person, even without the illness. Terry <A HREF="http://www.addconsults.com";>www.addconsults.com</A> << . I don't think that paranoid schizophrenics do quite as well as Nash did in that movie. In full bloom of their illness, they stink, they are mean and vicious, they have trouble holding down a job, paying bills, maintaining relationships, raising chidren; the whole shooting match. >>
