When the Brain Feels Chosen: John Nash, Grandiosity and the Labels We Give People

John Nash was a brilliant mathematician. He was also a man who lived with schizophrenia. Many people know his story through the film A Beautiful Mind, where we see his mind making patterns, building meanings, and creating a reality that other people could not see.

For me, one of the most important parts of this story is not just schizophrenia itself.

It is grandiosity.

Grandiose delusions can happen within psychosis. The NHS describes this as someone having an unshakeable belief that they have special power, authority or importance.

But in real life, grandiosity is not always obvious from the outside.

It may not look like someone saying, “I am the president” or “I have supernatural powers.”

Sometimes it looks like:

“I am different from everyone else.”
“Normal rules do not apply to me.”
“People do not understand how important my thinking is.”
“I have worked something out that nobody else can see.”
“I am being targeted because I know the truth.”
“I have a special role, mission or purpose.”

And this is where things can become misunderstood.

Because from the outside, people may see arrogance, defiance, manipulation, attention-seeking, oppositional behaviour, or narcissism.

But underneath, the person may be experiencing something much more complex.

Their brain may be creating a belief system that feels completely real.

That does not mean we agree with the belief. It does not mean we feed it. It does not mean we ignore risk. But it does mean we need to understand that the person may not be “choosing” to think this way in the way others assume.

Grandiose beliefs can feel meaningful to the person. Research has described how these beliefs can give people a sense of purpose, identity, belonging, or a way to make sense of difficult experiences.

That is important.

Because if a belief is giving someone identity, safety, power or meaning, then simply challenging it head-on can feel like an attack.

This is why compassion matters.

And this is also why labels can be dangerous when they are used too quickly.

I have worked with many people who present in ways that professionals may label in different directions. One person may be described as oppositional. Another may be described as having personality traits. Another may be called attention-seeking. Another may be seen as arrogant, difficult, controlling, or manipulative.

But what if the surface behaviour is only part of the picture?

What if the person’s brain is stuck in a pattern where they feel specially chosen, especially threatened, unusually powerful, deeply misunderstood, or responsible for something huge?

What if their certainty is not confidence, but a symptom?

That is the part we need to talk about more.

John Nash’s story is powerful because it shows that intelligence and serious mental health difficulties can exist in the same person. A person can be highly intelligent and still experience thoughts or beliefs that are not reliable. A person can be creative, gifted and insightful, while also struggling to know which parts of their thinking they can trust.

The film showed Nash learning to step back from some of his thoughts and perceptions.

Not because it was easy.

Not because schizophrenia can simply be “thought away”.

But because, over time, he developed some insight. He began to recognise that his brain could present things as real, even when they were not. The NHS explains that psychosis can affect a person’s ability to tell the difference between reality and imagination, and that lack of insight can make this extremely difficult.