A psychologist from Harvard Medical School has recently announced that hypnosis can be effectively used to treat and cure skin picking and hair pulling (trichotillomania).
Dr. Ted Grossbart is the author of the book “Skin Deep” and sais that these problems are often caused by stress, and when reducing stress, the behavior yields too.
Interestingly, he sais: “[...]about two thirds of people go into a spontaneous, spacey trance state when the pick or pull”
He also said: “Hypnosis can be combined with most of the more commonly used treatment approaches including medications, CBT, and mindfulness to make them even more effective. Many people can use hypnosis to help reprogram their picking and pulling hand to automatically do some other soothing but non-destructive behavior instead. Once people are in the driver’s seat of their hypnotic ability, they often reap additional benefits in other areas of their lives as well.”
You can read the whole article here: Harvard Medical School Psychologist: Hypnosis Effective in Treating Skin Picking, Hair Pulling
Note that hypnosis can also be used to effectively treat herpes in many cases.