A really important element of this I think is neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to rewire itself) and I feel that the placebo effect along with other psychos

A really important element of this I think is neuroplasticity (the brain's ability to rewire itself) and I feel that the placebo effect along with other psychosomatic effects is an important part of that. If you read "The Brain that Changes itself" for example, there's a lot of info into studies of visualisation as a treatment for chronic pain. The short summary is that there is a lot of research into people for whom normal pain treatments have been exhausted getting some relief from using visualisations to essentially reinforce other neural pathways so the pain circuits in the brain are not triggered as much. Some of this research is referenced in the book.