While hypnosis has been around since ancient times, its study as a “science” first occurred in the 1700s. A German physician, Franz Mesmer, used it in treating his patients, leading many of them to a new interest in hypnosis. Although originally considered a science and used to treat patients, it is now clear that hypnosis meets the criteria for a pseudoscience. Many people use the term "science" lightly, including myself so far, and you consider hypnosis a science. However, if one examines the criteria for considering something a science, it becomes apparent that many of these topics are actually pseudoscience. A scientific theory must be testable, progressive, correctable, coherent, parsimonious and useful. A pseudoscience therefore does not contain all of these characteristics. Often, pseudoscience relies on blind faith and is woefully lacking in evidence or testing. Pseudoscientists do not need to formulate theories or hypotheses, nor provide test results or observations in order to disseminate or publish their ideas. It is then easy to fall into the trap of believing that a pseudoscience is real science. For my part, I might have believed that hypnosis was a real science because of its popularity and its uses on television. Although it seems trivial, over the years I have seen many cases in which even law enforcement uses hypnosis or hypnotherapy. For example, I have seen hypnosis used for memory recall in cases where witnesses were unable to remember important events. Additionally, without first knowing the criteria for being considered a science, it was easy to simply believe that it was in fact a science. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Specifically in the case of hypnosis, one can examine the many characteristics of a pseudoscience and come to the conclusion that hypnosis does the trick. First of all, there is no standard scientific method that hypnosis follows to make it uniform. This produces biased test results due to different testing environments and procedures. Unreliable test results make it almost impossible to formulate precise observations and hypotheses and therefore make hypnosis impossible to consider as a science. Additionally, it is easy to misuse the results of hypnosis to support theories produced by pseudoscientists. Unlike real science, hypnosis is not tested in a laboratory, but is often tested under unverifiable conditions, under manipulated circumstances. For example, because it is not always observed or tested under the same conditions, it is difficult to formulate symmetrical or reliable evidence. Additionally, most of the time it is impossible to determine whether the results of hypnosis are due to the hypnosis itself or other underlying factors. Although hypnosis may appear at first glance to be a science, its inability to follow the scientific method or produce verifiable results and observations makes it a pseudoscience..