Could Counselling Have Changed His Story?

The Hong Kong film "The Justice Court" has been the talk of the town lately, and the question of "whether Cheung Hin-chung is really guilty" has sparked no shortage of debate. In the film, the first defendant, Cheung Hin-chung, is portrayed as cruel, self-loathing and lacking in empathy. The courtroom drama also features a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist giving testimony, allowing the audience to understand his psychological state from multiple angles. Is Cheung Hin-chung really the cold-blooded, calculating murderer everyone makes him out to be? And had Cheung Hin-chung encountered counselling before his psychological condition took hold, how differently might things have turned out? Contains spoilers — please read at your own discretion.

Cultivating empathy: the power of seeing things from another's perspective

The director draws out the side of Cheung Hin-chung that lacks empathy — for instance, he feels neither grief nor remorse after killing his parents, which shows he could not put himself in his parents' shoes, prompting him to reflect on the relationship between himself and them. From the film we can also infer that the protagonist's relationship with his parents was poor, and that his reclusive personality left him unable to communicate effectively with others. Empathy is a major key to maintaining interpersonal relationships. In counselling, the counsellor guides us to use basic, effective communication techniques to sort through our emotions, to try to start from the other person's situation when interacting with others, and to feel what they feel — to "think" from another perspective, stepping into another person's situation. For example, Cheung Hin-chung and his family could have learned more effective ways of conversing with loved ones together, letting the other side know their thoughts and feelings — perhaps improving the relationship between them and reducing the likelihood of tragedy.

ABC Theory (ABC Theory of Emotion) – overcoming irrational behaviour patterns

The rigid beliefs and behaviour that Cheung Hin-chung clings to can in fact be understood through the well-known ABC Theory used in counselling. The ABC Theory of Emotion, created by the American psychologist Albert Ellis, holds that a person's emotional behaviour is not shaped by events themselves alone, but by our view of those events. The theory points out that Activating events are only an indirect cause of the emotional and behavioural Consequence; what directly gives rise to C is the Belief produced by our perception of the event. The negative thoughts directly triggered by B are also known as "irrational beliefs".

Cheung Hin-chung's road to killing his parents

In the film, Cheung Hin-chung's parents opposed his playing badminton as a child and forced him to learn the piano; and when his business took off in adulthood, his parents transferred the ownership rights to his elder brother, Cheung Hin-cho. These Activating events led the protagonist to firmly believe that his parents disregarded his wishes, favoured his brother and deliberately rejected him, forming the Belief that he was unloved and unaccepted — until he finally decided to "punish" his parents, bringing about tragedy (Consequence).

So, how does counselling help?

In counselling, the counsellor guides us to examine our own behaviour and habits of thought, getting into the habit of asking ourselves questions such as "Is this thought reasonable?" and "Where does this emotion come from?", and learning to identify the irrational and biased reasoning within our thoughts and emotions, helping us overcome irrational and self-limiting behaviour patterns. At the same time, counselling can also help us address self-loathing. From a young age the protagonist met with setbacks — failing at his studies, being unable to find work and so on — which left him unable to face his strengths and weaknesses squarely, always attributing his failures, after experiencing them, to others deliberately obstructing him: being bullied by locals while studying abroad, interview outcomes already decided in advance, and the like. Through the counselling process, new behaviour patterns are established through action, letting him gain a sense of achievement from the abilities he is already good at, moving from small goals to large ones, step by step rebuilding a more resilient self-image and self-confidence. At the same time, counselling emphasises the concept of self-compassion (Self-compassion); exercises like these can help the protagonist become aware of and learn to accept his own strengths and weaknesses, to understand that traits such as height and build are genuinely beyond his control, and to cultivate the habit of practising gratitude, strengthening his sense of wellbeing.

The elements of counselling analysed above are intended to explore the possibilities for how the protagonist's psychological state might have developed. There are far too many truths and details we cannot see behind what drove Cheung Hin-chung to take the step of killing his parents, and many other environmental factors would need to be considered. Perhaps because the film is adapted from a true case from Hong Kong, as Hong Kong people we find ourselves especially drawn in, and carry an extra measure of empathy as we savour the inner world of each character. As you appreciate the work, do also remember to reflect on the issues it raises — the judicial system, media manipulation, and the influence of one's family of origin on a person's growth.