From a recent episode of Fresh Air: "While researching the book Cure, science writer Jo Marchant wanted to understand how distraction could be used to nullify pain, so she participated in a virtual reality experiment."
During the first part of the experiment, Marchant sat, without distraction, with her foot in a box of unbearably hot water. "It felt like a very intense burning pain on my foot when I just experienced it on its own," Marchant tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. Listen to the entire episode here. How Meditation, Placebos and Virtual Reality Help Power 'Mind Over Body'
