James Braid (nonfiction)
James Braid (19 June 1795 – 25 March 1860) was a Scottish surgeon and "gentleman scientist".
He was a significant innovator in the treatment of club-foot, and an important and influential pioneer of hypnotism and hypnotherapy. He is regarded by many as the first genuine "hypnotherapist" and the "Father of Modern Hypnotism".
On November 13, 1841, Braid first saw a demonstration of animal magnetism, which in time led to his study of the subject he eventually called hypnotism.
Although Braid believed that hypnotic suggestion was a valuable remedy in functional nervous disorders, he did not regard it as a rival to other forms of treatment, nor wish in any way to separate its practice from that of medicine in general. He held that whoever talked of a "universal remedy" was either a fool or a knave: similar diseases often arose from opposite pathological conditions, and the treatment ought to be varied accordingly. — John Milne Bramwell (1910)
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External links:
- James Braid (surgeon) @ Wikipedia