The Lightning Process...
The information below is based entirely on information contained on the website www.lightningprocess.com/ and any opinions are based on extrapolation from that information, or absence of it. It’s a year or two since I first read the website, but a return visit show nothing substantive has changed.
This is the full, somewhat idiosyncratic, list, of conditions which it claims to successfully treat:-
Low self esteem, self-doubt and even self-hatred.
Fear of failure
Guilt
Anxiety & Panic attacks
Stress & Struggle
Depression
Overwhelmedness
M.E (myalgic encephalitis)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Obsessive compulsive disorder
IBS
Addiction
Smoking
Procrastination
Insomnia
Stage fright
Note that, apart from ME/CFS and IBS, there is not a single physical illness on the list, which says a lot about how they view ME. Not a promising start. And I wonder how many doctors would be amazed to find that procrastination is an illness? (Procrastination is merely the habit of putting off doing something you should be doing - how on earth do you "cure" that?). I often suffer from depression, but I wouldn't trust these people to cure me.
The Process apparently combines concepts from NLP, Hypnotherapy, Life Coaching and Osteopathy. NLP, by the way, is Neurolinguistic Programming, and I strongly recommend a visit to Quackwatch for an opinion about this on its page Mental Help: Procedures to Avoid
As for Life Coaching, this is the Wikipedia definition:-
Life coaching is used by a growing number of psychologists to aid clients with
transitions in their personal life, and in the process of self-actualization.
Life coaching draws from a number of disciplines, including sociology, psychology,
career counseling, and numerous other types of counseling. The coach, or counselor,
applies mentoring, values assessment, behavior modification, behavior modeling,
goal-setting, and other techniques in assisting clients.
Can anyone - anyone at all - tell me how this can possibly contribute to the cure of a physical illness like ME?
Osteopathy, too, is borderline, as far as its acceptance as a genuine therapy is concerned, likewise hypnotherapy. I have to confess that the presence of hypnotherapy worries me. After all, an unscrupulous practitioner - not that this is the case here, of course! - could convince a subject of pretty much anything, possibly even that they were cured...
On, then, to the "Recovery Stories", of which there were 29 listed when I first wrote this article, and I read about half, before starting to lose the will to live. There is one person - just one - so far, who has had properly diagnosed ME, and who claims to have been cured. Of the others, one was "diagnosed" by her parents (so, that's all right then), and the rest simply "had ME" - whether that was simply their opinion, the opinion of someone who specialised in ME, or maybe even their parents, grandparents or someone they met on the bus - isn't mentioned. Sadly, the history of ME, especially in the face of medical intransigence, is one of self-diagnosis which, no matter how convinced the patient might be, has no value here. Being cured of something that only you think you have is of zero statistical significance.
Personally, I have to question whether people claiming to have had their ME cured by a therapy which is aimed so squarely at mental illness ever had it in the first place. Also, against the 29 successful case histories, I wonder how many failures there were? They don't tell you, but what I always want to know, especially when asked to part with substantial wads of money, is the ratio of success to failure. Anyone who claims a 100% success rate is not, I'm afraid, being entirely honest - nothing is that good. That, or the patients were extremely carefully screened first. Which, of course, they are.
There is, of course, a book - isn't there always - those who can "cure" ME always seem to have a powerful profit motive, and they'll sell you a copy for a mere £35!! Makes you wonder how much you'll be stung for if you opt for treatment. Approximately £700 (£560, plus a sum for "back-up"), that's how much - not exactly chicken-feed - for three days of what appears to be a fairly intense regime. Note: Prices may well be higher now.
I'd hoped that the website would have told me what the Process actually is and/or does, but because it apparently takes two hours, this is explained to the patient during the first session. So, I'm expected to stump up my £560, not knowing what I'm going to get for it - pig in a poke, anyone?
Oh yes, and patients are, apparently, closely vetted for suitability. Why? Feel free to draw your own conclusions...
If you're tempted to invest in the Lightning Process, then my normal advice would be to very strongly recommend that you research it thoroughly online, not just the websites that swear by it (and have a vested interest), but those that swear at it (and don't). Pay particular attention to the component parts, too, both pro and con. There is a huge problem here, though, as in trying to do this myself I ran up against a brick wall - the only websites seem to be and those generated by the originators and/or practitioners of the process. Doubtless, they would claim that the absence of adverse publicity is proof that it works - not so - absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and there may be many reasons why no-one has posted any adverse online reports. It doesn't mean that dissatisfied customers don't exist. If, however, you check out the individual components of the Process, you'll find no shortage of adverse criticism so, once more, feel free to draw your own conclusions.
My personal view is that the Lightning Process may just conceivably have some psychotherapeutic effect - as long as the patient isn't actually, clinically, mentally ill, as these guys are not qualified psychiatrists, but I cannot see any way in which it could be beneficial in treating a physical illness like ME. The Lightning Process people may not like me saying this, but it's my view and, in the complete absence of verifiable information to the contrary, it's valid.
In "Are you ready to learn how to use the Lightning Process in your life?", it's made quite clear that you will be trained to be well (my italics - an intriguing, and disturbing, concept), but if you don't implement your training, and thus fail to get well, then, hey, it's pretty much your fault.
It's also made quite clear that this is not for cynics or, apparently, for anyone with any critical faculties. Call me Mr. Picky (or just plain cynical), but if a therapy is to have ANY credibility, or value, it MUST be universally applicable. I don't need to believe in antibiotics for them to cure me, after all.
Finally, for any therapy or drug that purports to cure ME (or anything else for that matter), there are certain basic criteria:-
There should have been trials carried out, double-blind (i.e., no-one actively involved knows who gets the drug/proper therapy and who the placebo - patients are simply given numbered doses, the records being kept independently), in the case of drugs, and with a sensibly-sized test population (several hundred being far better than 10 - the more people involved in trials, the more accurate the results). The results of the trials are then published in a reputable journal (British Medical Journal or the New England Journal of Medicine, for example, and/or on a professionally-recognised website, like MedLine).
The research should then be favourably peer-reviewed, and the results preferably independently replicated. Unfavourable reviews generally meaning that it's back-to-the-drawing-board time. Favourable reviews generate further testing, especially with drugs.
The problem with the Lightning Therapy - and quite possibly all other "therapies", as distinct from drugs - is that it has never been subjected to this process, and even its claimed successes are prohibited from discussing it, quite possibly with a legally-binding non-disclosure agreement. Pretty much the only information about the Process comes from its practitioners and, with the best will in the world, they cannot be considered unbiased. Being told how wonderful a therapy, for example, is, by the person who originated it, or by a practitioner who stands to profit from it, without independent verification, means nothing.
Then there's the problem of actually knowing whether or not a person "cured" by the Lightning Process (or anything else), ever had ME in the first place. A great many people with ME are self-diagnosed. This doesn't automatically mean they don't have ME, it's just that there's no way to be certain - there never is. Even a confirmed diagnosis of ME, no matter how eminent the doctor(s), or how many times it's repeated, is no more, ever, than a "best guess" based on the symptoms and medical history. There is no definitive test.
There will, therefore, inevitably be some false positives - maybe a lot of them - and this is why, I believe, there are ME "cures" being claimed for things like the Lightning Process. After all, despite their rigorous vetting procedures, it is quite impossible for them to know, with any certainty, that a particular patient really does have ME. I mean, I know I have ME, and it has been properly diagnosed at the (now closed), ME facility at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. I cannot, however, prove I have ME, and nor can anyone else. This is why the egregious Department of Work and Pensions gets away with describing it, with blatant dishonesty, as a "psycho-social illness", despite the fact that the World Health Organisation classes it as a neurological illness.
The bottom line is that no genuine physical illness can ever be cured just by talking about it, or by changing the way one thinks about it. It is simply not possible. I believe the same holds true for those therapies that employ massage of various sorts to "cure" ME, too.