Although the film does not explain how or why Nash suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, it brilliantly describes the common symptoms and treatments of the disorder. Not only does it teach the public the facts about this type of schizophrenia, but it allows the public to truly understand the mental disorder from a medical, personal, and emotional perspective. John Nash is just one of many people diagnosed with schizophrenia, and films like A Beautiful Mind are an important way their stories can be told.