Hair pulling, often referred to clinically as trichotillomania, is a body-focused repetitive behaviour that can become distressing, hard to control, and difficult to explain to others. Research into hypnosis for this problem exists, but it remains a relatively small literature compared with more established behavioural treatments.

Across the available reports, the main potential benefits relate to increased awareness of pulling patterns, reduced automatic pulling, and greater ability to interrupt urges before the behaviour happens. Small clinical reports and adolescent case series have described meaningful improvement in some patients, particularly where hypnosis was paired with self-monitoring, imagery, or self-hypnosis practice.

At the same time, the evidence base has clear limits. Much of the literature consists of case reports or small case series rather than large, well-controlled studies. That means the published findings are interesting and encouraging, but they do not yet show with confidence how often hypnosis works, who is most likely to benefit, or how it compares with other leading treatment approaches.

Because of this, hypnosis is best understood as a supportive or adjunctive option rather than a stand-alone evidence leader for hair pulling. It may be particularly relevant where urges are closely tied to tension, automatic habits, emotional triggers, or difficulty shifting out of repetitive patterns, and where a person is open to a structured mind-body approach.

Overall, the literature suggests that hypnosis may help some people with hair pulling, but the field would benefit from larger, better-designed studies. For now, the fairest position is that hypnosis is a plausible and clinically interesting option, with promising reports but a still-developing research base.