Читать книгу Abnormal Psychology - William J. Ray - Страница 39

 1.1 Describe the components of and key considerations of psychopathology.

 1.2 Discuss the major themes of this book.

 1.3 Explain how evolution and culture are relevant to psychopathology.

 1.4 Summarize the historical influences on modern conceptions of mental disorders.

 1.5 Explain how discoveries about the brain contributed to an understanding of psychopathology.

 1.6 Discuss past and present methods of care for those with mental disorders.

 1.7 Describe the major present-day empirical treatment perspectives.

John Nash

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The biography A Beautiful Mind describes the fascinating life and experiences of mathematician John Nash (Nasar, 1998). The powerful story was made into a major Hollywood film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001. John Nash was, indeed, a remarkable figure, who received a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University and taught at both MIT and Princeton. In 1994, Nash won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work on game theory. From what I just told you, you probably assume that John Nash had a very productive career, and in many ways he did.

However, there was another aspect to John Nash’s life that caused considerable distress to himself and puzzlement for others. One day at work, when he was 30 years old, he walked into a room full of others in his department, held up a copy of the New York Times, and said to no one in particular that the story in the upper-left corner contained an encrypted message. Not only was it a message in code, he claimed, but it had been put there by inhabitants of another galaxy and he knew how to decode it (Nasar, 1998, p. 16).

Terri Cheney

© Suzanne Allison

From that day on, there were times Nash was productive, but there were also times when he had disordered thoughts, mumbled to himself without thought of those around him, and experienced delusions of situations that did not exist. He felt there were individuals around him who put him in danger. He even wrote letters to officials in the U.S. government to suggest that these individuals were setting up alternative governments. John Nash suffered from schizophrenia.

In Terri Cheney’s memoir, Manic (2008), the author, who rose to success as an entertainment attorney in Beverly Hills, told of her experience of exceptional energy. She described one time she was in Santa Fe, New Mexico:

The mania came in four-day spurts. Four days of not eating, not sleeping, barely sitting in one place for more than a few minutes at a time. Four days of constant shopping—and Canyon Road is all about commerce, however artsy its façade.

She further described her experiences:

Mostly, however, I talked to men. Canyon Road has a number of extremely lively, extremely friendly bars and clubs, all of which were in walking distance of my hacienda. It wasn’t hard for a redhead with a ready smile and a feverish glow in her eyes to strike up a conversation and then continue that conversation well into the early-morning hours, his place or mine. (pp. 6–7)

—Excerpt from Manic by Terri Cheney. Copyright © 2008, 2009 by Terri Cheney. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

Of course, many individuals experience feelings of high energy or sexuality that would not be considered a mental disorder. However, as you will see in Chapter 6 on mood disorders, those with bipolar disorder often experience high levels of energy for long periods of time and an intense desire to engage in sexual activity, gambling, or shopping. Our task is to understand which types of activities would be considered as psychopathology or mental illness.