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by keville 2211 days ago
I'm pretty sure I have a (very) mild form of trichotillomania, where I pick at my beard absentmindedly and pull out "odd" hairs more often than I'd like. Trying to be conscious about it has already improved the issue as I've aged, but I have always harbored a desire to find out if hypnotism would help. Any idea if this kind of behavior has been eased by your styles of therapies?
3 comments

I do this same thing. I have a couple hairs that are thicker than others and I'll end up finding them (or I think I find them) while watching TV, reading at the computer, etc. But I end up accidentally pull out a lot of other hairs around the ones I'm trying to get. I have a thick and long enough beard that I can cover it up, but there's a bit of a bald spot in there.

Really interesting (and comforting) to hear someone else doing the same thing.

Good question! There have been some studies looking into hypnosis for trichotillomania (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11417149/) which found it was helpful but there needs to be more studies into the area. On a cognitive level, I could imagine why it would be an effective treatment tho.
Have you checked out www.habitaware.com? It's a wearable you can train to help you stop behaviors like that.