Taxi rider a case analyze travis bickle case study

Multiple Personality Disorder, Borderline Character Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Silent Film

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Taxi New driver: A Case Research

Travis Bickle: An Introduction

The reality that are provided to the spectator about Travis Bickle in the most basic sense do paint a portrait of a certain level of pathology. Travis Bickle is a adorned Vietnam expert, and appears to suffer from PTSD. The viewer also quickly learns that Travis would not have many good friends: he’s socially very isolated and this looks in part to get connected to the fact that he features trouble starting and preserving friendships.

The spectator discovers very quickly that Travis Bickle is given to disturbances in his judgment and perception, in his decision-making process. In fact , the very purpose he takes a job driving a taxi, thus bestowing the film with its extremely title, is really because he has trouble sleeping (suffering from sleep problems, a common regarding PTSD). Bickle claims that he acquired lonely simply walking around thus he thought that getting a work working nights would make him feel much less lonely. Someone else without Bickle’s pathology could have taken up a spare time activity, or attended single pubs, or other group activities in order to satisfy people. Yet , Bickle decides to drive a cab: from this sense his meetings with individuals are limited, mostly private, avoid face-to-face eye contact, and there’s a transactional imprint together with the entire getting together with.

As the film advances, the spectator watches the complete pathology of Bickle even more unfold plus the darker sides of his personality set out to emerge: he can act furious and aggressive to people, engaging in paranoid actions with a strong focus on payback. Much of his thought process seems to revolve around the need for controlling his life towards a more regimented trend, along with clearly delusional thinking about the community and his place in it. A focus toward violence and a preoccupation with assault is a common twine in his behavior.

Single Diagnosis

The most exact diagnosis of Travis Bickle would be that he suffers from schizotypal personality disorder. According to research which checked out the most unwavering characteristics of people who have this kind of disorder, it was found that, one of the overwhelming characteristics in the condition is that defense mechanisms enjoy an overwhelming part in the schizotypal personality disorder” (Perry ain al., 2013). Travis Bickle clearly illustrates these tendencies. His weird behavior inspires many of his actions. Much of the behavior that he engages in within his apartment displays a strong degree of unusualness. For instance , the thought procedures and following actions that Bickle engages in alone in the apartment display truly skewed thinking. For example , the viewers watches Bickle place his hand over the flame of a candle to ensure himself to feel the pain in the burn, supposedly, so that he can become stronger and more desensitized to pain, you might assume.

The sheer isolation of Bickle’s behavior is a really common facet of schizotypal persona disorder. Schizotypal personality disorder has possibly been found to have terme conseillé with Aspberger’s Disorder because they both have disorganization inside the social-interpersonal and communication parts of the brain (Hurst et ing., 2007). This kind of very effectively describes Bickle’s behavior. Bickle has a great deal of trouble in relating possibly to other taxi drivers that he meets and quickly alienates Betsy after just one date with her. The obvious inability to relate to other folks is proven in the sense that Bickle thought that all Betsey would be fine in watching a dirty movie with him; somewhat it quickly makes her uncomfortable and she wants to terminate the date. In fact one could actually make the case that Bickle is unable to pick up on the cosmetic cues that Betsy emits that she’s uncomfortable: successful social connection is dependent around the ability to decode the facial expressions more, an aspect of social cognition that people with this disorder have consistent problems knowing effectively (Sugranyes et al., 2011).

Support for the Diagnosis

Plenty of Bickle’s life is seen as social solitude, which is a major condition of the schizotypal personality disorder. His life is extremely narrow: this individual drives a cab, this individual lives exclusively, he weighs out by pornographic movie theatres. The fact that Bickle chooses pornographic films demonstrates his profound loneliness: he wants to enjoy the deepest form of closeness two humans can talk about. However , this movie choice isolates him even further from other people, because he’s most likely just going to encounter various other loners in such movies. The three lonely spheres of existence that Bickle techniques from can be consistent with the standard traits of schizotypal disorder which often keep common features of adult attachment disorders marked simply by social solitude, overprotection and self-insulation (Berry et ‘s., 2007). One can thus associated with argument which the loneliness that Bickle has the capacity to sustain is usually something which assists maintain his own pathology and the indications of his disease.

Furthermore, this loneliness is additionally typified with a certain detach that Bickle demonstrates on the rest of the universe. There’s a insufficient sympathy or camaraderie that Bickle shows towards other folks; it’s strongly characterized by an “us or them” attitude which is demonstrated in the next voiceover inside the film: “Thank God for the rain, which has cleaned away the garbage and the waste off the sidewalksAll the animals come out during the night. Whores, skunk-pussies, buggers, a queen, fairies, dopers, junkies. Sick and tired, venal. At some point a real rain’ll come and wash all this scum off the streets”

Besides demonstrating an intensified detachment with other human beings (for example, another person might have the same repulsion for anyone low-lifes, and others might have compassion for them, other folks might want to support them), Bickle demonstrates some level of disregard for these persons. His disregard has a selected degree of pathology to it, in that it seems characterized by what psychologists contact “magical considering. ” Bickle alludes for the idea that someday “real rain’ll come and wash this all scum off the streets, ” though anybody can only picture what Bickle means when he says “real rain”: he may be talking about a bathtub of bullets, the hand of Our god, or the two.

As the movie continues, the spectator has privilege in watching the silent pathology that goes in in Bickle’s apartment: his violence becomes organized and also. Bickle stands around bare-chested and attaches guns to himself, practicing drawing these people in front of a mirror while the rest of his apartment bears posters of the presidential candidate Charles Palantine. Bickle companies a fast bring mechanism in addition to a concealed cutting knife: the weaponry are cared for as plug-ins of his body and he shows a tremendous dexterity in using them. The most iconic sequence in the film, in which Bickle stands in front of an image, alone in his apartment and says, inch You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ in my opinion? You talkin’ to me? (He turns about to appear behind him. ) Well, who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well, I’m the only one here. Who the f – e do you think you’re talkin’ to? Ok last one? Huh? OKAY. (He whips out his gun again. ) Huh? ” (filmsite. org, 2013). While this may be probably the most famous sequences in the film, it demonstrates a tremendous amount regarding his current pathology: this shows Bickle’s magical considering and his delusions in confronting imagined assailants. It also demonstrates a strong disconnect in his ability to recognize himself and his troubles in separating fiction from reality. This kind of moment not only points to what is to arrive (the extreme violence that acts as the climax pertaining to the film, but it foreshadows how Bickle’s preoccupation towards violence, systematisierter wahn, delusional thinking, social remoteness and tremendous disconnect by others have all culminated in to an extremely harmful personality.

Summary

Travis Bickle in Martin Scorcese’s popular