Hypnosis, psychotherapy and rock 'n' roll don't seem to have much in common but they have been central to the life of British therapist, musician and sound engineer Mark Pummell. The rock 'n' roll surrounds of a recording studio might seem a long way from the tranquil setting of a therapist's couch, but for Mark Pummell they are literally next door.
Pummell, a British psychotherapist and trained hypnotherapist, is also a former professional musician and accomplished sound engineer.
Tucked in an alleyway off Taikang Road is both his state-of-the-art recording studio and what he describes as his communication facilitation practice, Sinapse. At his practice, he treats a range of clients using his skills in analytical hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and counselling.
Pummell treats a range of problems, from helping people quit smoking to serious underlying mental issues surrounding physical, mental and sexual abuse.
The inner workings of the mind have long fascinated Pummell, who first trained as a family doctor in Britain.
Being hypnotized by Pummell is an exercise in deep relaxation. Pummell says a person in a hypnotic state is similar to that of someone meditating and hypnosis traces its origins back to the ancient Persians.
Now approaching his seventh year in Shanghai, Pummell says almost half the clients at his steadily growing practice are Chinese.
"The type of therapy I practice uses a combination of psychoanalysis and hypnosis, and when you think about hypnosis it has a direct parallel with meditation, which has a long history in the East," he says.
"So, one of the reasons the practice has been so successful is that our Chinese clients find this combination of approaches very helpful and non-threatening," he adds.
Hypnosis has a relatively new history in China, but Pummell says his Chinese clients often take to hypnotherapy more readily than his foreign clients.
After studying medicine, Pummell went on to practice as a family doctor and later as a psychiatrist in Cambridge for more than 10 years.
But despite the demands of his medical studies, he also made time for his second love - music.
