Lori Blanchfield, 25, is anxious. She moved her wedding date up by six months so that her army captain sister could attend. In the process, she lost the reservations on her original reception location. Then she had a bridesmaid drop out of the bridal party suddenly. "Out of nowhere, my face broke out in little bumps," she says. "I honestly thought I was allergic to something!" But the first question her dermatologist asked was, "Have you been stressed out lately?"

Dermatologists have long suspected that acne and skin problems like rosacea, hives and psoriasis are linked to a person's emotional state. Many doctors ask about a patient's stress levels when she comes in with a new skin ailment, but some are digging deeper into the relationship between psychology and the skin. They call themselves Psychodermatologists, or "skin shrinks."

"Psychodermatology is not an official field," says Dr. Ted Grossbart, an assistant clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School who specializes in skin problems. "It's an informal designation for the territory between conventional medical dermatology and the mental health disciplines."

So how does it work? "We look systematically at what was going on in the patient's life when the skin trouble started, when it gets worse and when it gets better," says Dr. Grossbart. "We track down particular stresses and emotional factors ‑- kind of like focused psychotherapy." His patients also use physical techniques like guided relaxation, imaging and hypnosis.