“You Talkin’ To Me?”: New York and Mental Illness in Taxi Driver [OWLS Blog Tour September 2018 – “Self-Care”]

In favor of positivity and good mental health, we will be exploring the importance of self-care. Sometimes, we are lost in our thoughts and emotions that it can cause a negative impact on our lifestyle and our relationships. For this month’s topic, the OWLS bloggers will be exploring the mental health of pop culture characters and how their mental health affects their environments. We will explore the dangers of mental health illnesses and how it might lead to self-destruction and/or how one has the power to overcome their demons. In addition, we will share our personal stories and struggles about mental health and discuss positive ways in handling mental health issues.

The concept of self-care is twofold: while the word literally means taking care of one’s self, it also involves taking some sort of action when doing so. Whether these actions are positive or negative, there will always be consequences. However, there is also the grey area of whether an action can truly be seen as good or bad. Suicide, for example, can be seen as an example of an action that may fall into the grey area. While, for the most part, suicide is considered a bad decision due to the fact that the person committing it will leave behind their loved ones and their dreams and aspirations, in the mind of the victim, suicide may be the only choice they have left to receive “self-care” [NOTE: I am not advocating for suicide here. As a person who has had suicidal thoughts in the past, I am talking about what thoughts could potentially go on inside a suicidal person’s head]. This idea of what constitutes as “good” or “bad” is one of the driving points of Martin Scorsese’s seminal film, Taxi Driver, which also featured a young Robert De Niro in the titular role.

Dealing With Depression Using Dark Souls

Disclaimer: The views and comments made in this post do not necessarily reflect how other people suffer from depression. Everyone is different and everyone experiences things differently to others. These are purely based on my personal experiences.

Before I start with this personal post of mine, I’m going to try my best not to turn this into a sob story. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been dealing with depression for a very long time. This, naturally, has had an effect on many areas of my life: feeling shy and socially anxious around people (especially women), putting too much pressure on myself due to societal and family expectations, saying negative things to myself when I do something wrong, even if it’s miniscule (“useless”, “idiot”, etc.) and so forth. Luckily, though, I have learned overtime to accept my depression and realise that it’s a part of who I am. By acknowledging this fact, it’s made the coping process a bit easier for me these days.