What do psychologists say about the perpetrator who caused the fire at the karaoke bar in Hanoi?

The fire at the karaoke bar at 258 Pham Van Dong (Co Nhue 2 ward, Bac Tu Liem district, Hanoi) on the night of December 18 due to personal conflicts took the lives of 11 innocent people and injured 4 others.

At the police station, Cao Van Hung (born in 1973, residing in Dong Anh district) confessed that due to a conflict with 7 people in the karaoke bar, he bought gasoline and set fire to the bar.

Assessing this incident, psychologist Nguyen Hong Bach (Director of the DrMP Clinical Psychology Center under the Institute of Psychology and Communication IPM, Vietnam Psychological Association) said that when he saw the information about the incident, he carefully watched the clip recording the image of the subject Cao Van Hung.

According to psychologist Nguyen Hong Bach, Hung has two states: before knowing the consequences of the incident and after knowing the consequences of the incident caused by himself.

Analyzing the perpetrator from a psychological perspective, Dr. Nguyen Hong Bach said that in psychology there is a type of parapsychological personality disorder called "temporary identity seizure".

“This disorder has been experienced by all of us, even if you are considered a calm person. This disorder usually occurs between the ages of 15 and 36, and has a rather complex progression, depending on the living environment and educational background.

If a person has a good living environment and educational background, the disorder will be eliminated over time and will have a positive direction. Otherwise, everyone can predict it. With the perpetrator's background, the living environment he has experienced and above all, his alcoholism, the perpetrator's disorder may be at its highest level when a conflict occurs," Dr. Bach commented.

The disorder of “temporary identity usurpation” has more opportunities to develop when the gap between rich and poor, social position, form of livelihood… all of these impacts will make the disorder more likely to exist.

“That is why it is not just a small traffic collision that suddenly leads to a murder. A small fight between neighbors can also lead to a murder. A joke between students can also lead to a murder. A parent, in order to defend their child, is willing to beat their child’s friend or tolerates their child beating his friend back…” Dr. Bach gave an example.

The above situations all stem from unclear and trivial causes. However, according to psychologists, these clashes are spontaneous, so it is difficult to predict the consequences. Although the people in these clashes do not prepare the means to commit the crime, when they cannot control their anger, they can grab anything as a weapon, or secretly take revenge like the murderer Cao Van Hung. Impulsive actions due to lack of emotional control are always extremely dangerous.

In the case of the murderer Cao Van Hung, when he did not know the consequences of his actions, he calmly told the story as if it were a joke. “At that time, the ‘temporary identity’ was satisfying its own ego. The ego at that time was filled with hatred, and this hatred was not temporary. It was accumulated through the murderer’s life, prison, theft…,” Dr. Bach analyzed.

When he learned the consequences of the incident, the killer's demeanor changed, becoming remorseful, fearful, and sometimes regretful. At this time, the killer's true nature returned, wanting to live, wanting to come back, but it was too late...

According to Dr. Nguyen Hong Bach, in any situation, if we do not want things to go too far and become uncontrollable, even causing bad consequences, each person needs to know how to control the anger that is raging inside them. When dealing with someone who is angry and losing their temper, we need to be calm and confident in our behavior.

Because when a person loses their temper, they can become aggressive, then they will be filled with negative emotions, after a period of internal restraint, they will "explode" this anger on others. At that time, the consequences will be unpredictable.

“Anger management is a process, also known as cumulative practice. This accumulation requires a healthy environment and a highly social education system,” Dr. Bach shared.

To train yourself to control your anger, you need to learn how to control it by doing the opposite behavior to the object, for example, smiling at the angry person, comforting them, apologizing to them...

“Sometimes we need to make a reverse comparison like AQ, placing the ego with the cognitive difference (Thinking higher than other angry behaviors…),” Dr. Bach gave an example.

Schools and families should help children develop soft skills, control and regulate emotions, help children develop empathy, and supplement situational education content such as creating unfavorable situations for children from primary school to practice patience from an early age, helping children understand and know how to behave appropriately...

Besides, the most important thing is to educate harmony, guiding each individual in society to sympathize and share, because as EC Mckenzie once said: "Sympathy is the key to open the hearts of others".