Proposal: Taxi Driver; Travis Bickle has more than just PTSD.

11)      Travis Bickle, the protagonist of Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver, has a specific and diagnosable mental illness in addition to his post-traumatic stress disorder.

22)      Everybody who sees Taxi Driver understands that Travis is “losing his mind”. It is often inferred that his violent attitude is purely a result of post-traumatic stress disorder. However, attributing this to Travis limits an audience’s understanding of the film. The movie draws a few parallels between Travis’s time in the war and his violent disposition, but there is no scene in the movie that indicates his goals are motivated purely by a subconscious desire to get revenge on the government he blames for the atrocities he witnessed or committed in war, punish the citizens of the United States who disrespected the troops upon their return, or any other actions typically associated with plots about post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers going on a murderous rampage.

While Travis’s time in the war was certainly influential to him, he clearly suffers from other mental conditions that drive him to the decisions he makes and his behavior, which ranges from eccentric to misanthropic to criminal. If Travis is psychoanalyzed, several possible diagnoses can be given and his actions, words, and choices can be understood more clearly than they could by attributing them to just post-traumatic stress disorder.

Several afflictions which may plague Travis Bickle in addition to his post-traumatic stress disorder include antisocial personality disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, major depressive disorders, and/or several others, all with psychotic features.

33)      At the 57:52 mark, Travis begins writing in his journal and thus narrating. He describes his new exercise routine, diet, and other lifestyle changes, as well as his plans for freeing the streets of the people he considers garbage. He is shown to follow his new rules diligently and he is shown developing ways to conceal his various new weapons, practicing quick-drawing those weapons, and practicing intimidating and stylish things to say before killing people. As this is Travis’s internal monologue to himself, he is not putting on a façade for his friends, Betsy, Iris, or another person. He is revealing what makes perfect sense to him. His journal entries are pure, unfiltered glimpses into his psyche and what he considers normal, and as such are the best scenes to examine when trying to psychoanalyze Travis.