Dr. James Braid
1795-1860

Dr James Braid was a Scottish physician who was born in the ancient Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, and educated in Edinburgh. He became a famed surgeon in Manchester, and is also known as the "father" of modern hypnosis. He actually coined the term, hypnosis. He took it from the Greek word, hypnos, meaning sleep. It was also named Braidism after him for a short period of time. Once the term hypnosis caught on, Dr. Braid thought it over and theorized that the hypnotic subject is never really asleep. So he changed the word to monoideism. Monoideism means one word or one thought. Dr. Braid felt that the hypnotic subject was so focused on one thought or idea to the exclusion of all others that the trance like condition ensued. This is pretty much what all hypnotists believe today. The term monoideism never caught on. Hypnosis is here to stay!

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