Actually this sounds a lot like what EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) does. As someone who has tried EMDR, it is strange how you cannot re-connect with those painful feelings you had (in my case) 1 or 2 sessions ago and all you did was move your eyes. As far as I know, it has been proven to be extremely useful but a consensus as to WHY it actually works has yet to be reached.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMDR