Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia by his early 30s. Though he did not initially benefit from the newer treatments and medications available today, he did have unusually strong support from his family and friends. His "beautiful mind" and his early mathematical genius won him a Nobel Prize in 1994, at the age of 66. Perhaps more surprisingly, his symptoms of schizophrenia have greatly diminished in his later life.

Roberto Gil, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and head of the Schizophrenic Research Unit at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, explains how Nash's case is in some ways atypical of the illness, but in other ways tragically typical. Gil defines schizophrenia and explains how chemical imbalances in the brain can greatly distort an individual's perception of reality and affect their ability to function.