From the British Journal of Health Psychology, 19 September 2012 (epublished before print).
Experiences of young people who have undergone the Lightning Process to treat chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis – a qualitative study
Silje Endresen Reme(1,*), Nicola Archer(2), Trudie Chalder(2)
(1} Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
(2) Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College London, UK
*Correspondence should be addressed to Silje Endresen Reme, 450 Brookline Avenue, LW 731, Boston, MA 02215, USA (e-mail: sreme@hsph.harvard.edu).
Publication History
Article first published online: 19 SEP 2012
Manuscript Revised: 24 JUL 2012
Manuscript Received: 4 JAN 2012
Objectives
Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a serious condition characterized by debilitating but unexplained fatigue. Treatment alternatives are few, and especially so for young people. The aetiology of CFS/ME is still unclear and controversial, but rehabilitative interventions seem so far most promising. The Lightning Process is a 3-day training programme that has recently become available, but no outcome studies have yet been published. It is a non-medical training programme that combines concepts from Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Life Coaching and Osteopathy. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of young people with CFS/ME after they had undergone the Lightning Process.
Design Qualitative research study.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with an opportunistic sample recruited through open advertisements of nine young people, aged 14–26, who had undergone the treatment, and three of their parents. Inductive thematic analysis was used to evaluate the content of the interviews.
Results
Mostly positive experiences were reported of the Lightning Process. Two reported dissatisfaction and no improvement, while seven were satisfied and were much improved. Particular helpful aspects were the theoretical rationale, practical exercises, and the technique they learned. Less helpful aspects were the intensity and short duration of the treatment with little follow-up, the secrecy surrounding it, and feelings of being blamed if the treatment did not work.
Conclusions
As this is the first report of young people's experiences with the Lightning Process, it will be important to consider the helpful and unhelpful treatment components for future refinement of interventions for CFS/ME.
Statement of contribution
What is already known on this subject? Treatment alternatives for people with CFS/ME are few, especially for young people. The Lightning Process is a popular treatment programme that has recently become available, but no studies involving the treatment have yet been published. Feelings of blame or dismissal in CFS/ME patients lead to withdrawal or disengagement from professionals.
What does this study add? The Lightning Process for young people with CFS/ME encompasses many positive aspects, particularly the practical aspects of the treatment programme. The more extreme position taken by the Lightning Process in denying the limitations of the illness seem to produce divergent results in various young people; some found it liberating and therapeutic, whilst others did not respond well to it and were left feeling guilty and blamed.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Ethics committee finally approves controversial ‘SMILE’ pilot study into Lightning Process and children with ME/CFS (6 January 2012)
Study involving children and the Lightning Process is unethical, says joint charity statement (5 August 2010)
“Mostly positive experiences were reported…”
Even the report is subjective! Still no objective measurements have been used.
“..it will be important to consider the helpful and unhelpful treatment components for future refinement…”
How about considering the duration of any (self-reported) ‘improvements’?
How eactly does a psychalogical therapy work on a real non psychalogical illness such as ME
http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/
ME is no more ‘in the mind’ than Multiple Sclerosis. When is the world going to get that?
19 September 2012 9:03 PM
I recomend people go to the Mail Online to read
Sonia Poulton’s blog
http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/
I’m with you, ferny.
Cort Johnson – Phoenix Rising – posted recently:
Dr. Lipkin emphasized the enormous amount of immune activation he’d uncovered with 2/3 to 3/4 of the patients
exhibiting polyclonal B-cell activation.
ME/CFS he said “is not a psychosomatic disorder’..
Coming from the world’s foremost ‘virus hunter’ that is surely definitive… though the psychos are, no doubt, still aiming for their own moon to mine the green cheese!
Esther Ranzen’s daughter was “magically cured” at least a couple of times by LP, and LP gained a great deal of positive public support in the media from Ms Ranzen.
It was later discovered that the daughter, Emily, had Chron’s disease all along.
Emily’s public statement was that it was such a relief to be able to stop pretending she was actually well. She did understand that the principle was to pretend she was well until she actually became well in reality. It was simply that really getting well did not happen, but she was stuck with the pressure of the effort of pretending in order to please the people around her and to live up to the media publicity.