SHANGHAI - "Imagine you are at a party. A tall guy in the same major approaches you," the hypnotist said in a deep, quiet voice to a boy sitting next to him.

"How will you introduce yourself? What topics would you like to talk about with him?"

Yang En'de continued to guide the boy to talk through the imaginary scenario. The boy has difficulties making friends and came to Yang, the founder of a university hypnosis club.

"Hypnotism is never used as the main tool but an additional option to solve problems," Yang said.

Yang, however, is not a trained hypnotist but an education student at Nanjing Normal University in Jiangsu province.

Yang En'de is a fan of hypnotism. [China Daily]

He became interested in hypnotism a year ago when he had psychological problems because of the high pressures of study. He found the treatment "a very useful tool to get people relaxed", and started learning relevant theories from the book Therapeutic Trance the Cooperation Principle in Erickson Hypnotherapy and from the Internet.

He also taught himself hypnosis to offer psychological counseling to friends and schoolmates. He set up a hypnosis club in April to let more people understand hypnotism and use it wisely.

"If the person is totally curious about hypnosis and wants to try it for the experience, I will normally give a five-minute hypnotic treatment by having them recall good memories from their childhood," said Yang.

He eases problems in relationships, insomnia and high pressure, handling each person according to their personalities and conditions.

"I normally try to chat with them as a friend to know how they respond in daily conversation and whether they will accept direct guidelines to solve their problems."

The first of its kind at the university, Yang's hypnosis club has 15 regular members. He holds activities every week where he shares information on hypnosis and gives treatment to people who want to have a try.

He is thinking about inviting professional counselors to give lectures.

But some people are casting doubt on Yang's professional ability to deal with people's mental problems through hypnosis.

"It's a good sign that more young people are getting interested in psychology, but hypnosis cannot be used freely without taking any professional training from experts," said Sang Biao, a professor from the psychology department, East China Normal University.

Sang added that it takes a long time to obtain the skills to use hypnosis wisely in treatment, and it requires a combination of theory and practice from academic courses.

Yang said he plans to obtain a psychological counseling certificate.

"I will be a teacher after graduation. I want to ease students from accumulating mental problems by applying hypnosis and other psychological methods along with regular teaching," he said.

"I've experienced hypnosis by Yang, which is quite a relaxing and fun process. I don't recognize it as a professional way to cure psychological problems but a leisure activity between friends," said Meng Shuchen, a senior student of the university.