Mind over Matter: What was the problem again?

A lot of skeptics and rationalists are very, well, skeptical about the idea of "mind over matter", the idea that the mind can influence the brain and techniques such as meditation, biofeedback, and visualization can have real somatic effects.

They do so even in the face of documented evidence that mental techniques and psychotherapy can be effective in the treatment of not only depression and anxiety (which seems obvious) but also pain after surgery, migraine, fibromyalgia, prostate cancer, h...