Being locked up in a coffin would be a traumatic experience for most people, but an increasing number of patients in China are actually volunteering to be confined in a burial box as a new special form of psychotherapy.

The patients hope that by resting in the tight small space they will be "reborn" and be brought back from "death" to life, according to the Shengyang Evening News.

Tang Yulong, a consultant of the psychological counseling center, believes that simulating death can treat people suffering from psychological problems or intense pressure.

Tang says that patients are asked to write down his or her last words before lying in a coffin. Then after they squeeze themselves in, they need to pull a white blanket over themselves and lay still, according to WhatsonSanya.com.

After five minutes of lying in the coffin, a sound of a baby crying will break the silence and the consultant will open the coffin with a happy song.

Tang says that more than 1,000 people have tried the therapy, but he stresses that the psychotherapy is not for everyone and patients are carefully selected.

"This therapy makes use of suggestion theory in psychology," Tang said, according to WhatsonSaya.com. "However, it's only part of the psychotherapy and is not suitable for everyone. We will choose proper ones to receive this death-experience therapy."

One patient said he became involved in the therapy after experiencing psychological problems himself. He had tried to commit suicide four times before, but was saved by his friends and family.

Huang, a 35-year-old manager, said that after receiving the psychotherapy himself, he changed his attitude toward life and started volunteering as a manager at the clinic.

"In the past 35 years, I thought what I pursued were what I needed, such as money and a high position. However, after this special therapy, I find out that what I need is not a house, but a home."

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