In the course of some other research I ran across this fascinating site the  Virtual Realty Pain Control at University of Washington’s Human Interface Technology Lab. Extreme pain, such as that experienced by burn victims while having their wounds cleaned, is so painful that strong opiates cannot make it bearable.  Apparently distracting patients by using virtual reality, can make significant improvements in how they perceive their pain. I don’t know what this says about the mind-body relationship but I found it fascinating.