Meditation is a real thing- at least that's what the studies I've read have shown. Mindfulness and awareness of the self has been shown to increase overall wellbeing.
There is something to be said though, about pain and its purpose. Pain is meant to indicate that something is wrong. In terms of surgery and other things like this, a pain-reducing method might prove useful. If the issue is with the invasive nature of drugs to reduce pain during and after the procedure, scientists are working on many different techniques.
One of the newer ones is music. While this doesn't resolve all of the issues, it has been proven in some regards. Gate control theory and other pain theories play well into their studies as well, so these studies are not without a basis. There's a good article by Sarah Aldridge on the topic. I'm personally not a fan of using pain-relieving pills, but that's just because I come from a family with a dependency on them.
Tired of life or tired of being ill it does not matter. Living with pain is a pain in the arse but one must strive to not let it effect them in such a negative matter. Pain tolerance is never fun but if you look at things differently maybe we can get some of these young adults to not think of suicide.
Men and women remember pain differently. Scientists increasingly believe that one of the driving forces in chronic pain -- the number one health problem in both prevalence and burden -- appears to be the memory of earlier pain. Research suggests that there may be variations, based on sex, in the way that pain is remembered in both mice and humans. Source 2p.