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39. In fact, history is replete with instances of persons suffering from even paranoid schizophrenia, becoming great achievers. One such case has found its way even to the law books (if not to the law courts, about which there are no records), with the Karnataka High court referring to the same in one of its judgments. In Para 24 of its decision in Shilpa vs. Praveen (AIR 2016 Kant 169), the Karnataka High Court, recorded the following: At this stage, we are reminded of a story of success portrayed by Sylvia Nasar in the Biography, A Beautiful Mind (published by Simon & Schuster, as well as a Film of the same name) of John Forbes Nash Jr., an American Mathematician, born on June 13, 1928. He started showing symptoms of mental illness and spent several years at Psychiatric Hospitals and was treated for paranoid schizophrenia. After 1970, he refused further medication and his condition improved. Thereafter he was never committed to Hospital again. He recovered gradually with the love and care of his divorced wife whom he remarried in 2001. He gradually returned to academic work by mid-1980s. He was awarded the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for the thesis, which earned him Ph.D. Degree in 1950. He was both a Mathematician and Economist. He made groundbreaking work in the area of real algebraic geometry. He published number of theorems to his credit and was awarded prestigious Abel Prize in 2015.

Paranoid Schizophrenia, Paranoia and Paraphrenia - Paranoia is now regarded as a mild form of paranoid schizophrenia. The main characteristic of this illness is a well elaborated delusional system in a personality that is otherwise well preserved. The delusions are of a persecutory type. The true nature of the illness may go unrecognized for a long time because the personality is well preserved, and some of these paranoiacs may pass off as social reformers or founders of queer pseudo-religious sects. The classical picture is rare and generally takes a chronic course.

Paranoid schizophrenia, in the vast majority of cases, starts in the fourth decade and develops insidiously. Suspiciousness is the characteristic symptom of the early stage. Ideas of reference occur, which gradually develop into delusions of persecution. Auditory hallucinations follow which in the beginning, start as sounds or noises in the ears, but become fixed and definite, to lead the patient to believe that he is persecuted by some unknown person or some superhuman agency. He believes that his food is being poisoned, some noxious gases are blown into his room and people are plotting against him to ruin him. Disturbances of general sensation give rise to hallucinations, which are attributed to the effects of hypnotism, electricity, wireless telegraphy or atomic agencies. The patient gets very irritated and excited owing to these painful and disagreeable hallucinations and delusions.