Terribly phony sibling's alternative therapy (8)
I believe the answer is:
hypnosis
'alternative therapy' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how one could define the other.
'terribly phony sibling's' is the wordplay.
'terribly' is an anagram indicator.
'sibling' becomes 'sis' (short for sister).
'phony' with letters rearranged gives 'hypno'.
'hypno'+'sis'='HYPNOSIS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hypnosis that I've seen before include "Mesmerism" , "Sleeplike state in which mind responds to suggestions" , "State induced by suggestion, resembles sleep" , "The putting of someone in a sleep-like state" , "Induced state of trance" .)