Currently clinical results from exit surveys after Lightning Process trainings have shown a very high success rate. Data is received from people before and after they have under gone the Lightning Process trainings and is a ’self assessment’. People are asked if they got the changes THEY wanted. So it is not a subjective view from the trainer, rather a direct question to the people using the Lightning Process. My training package also includes regular follow ups in the year following the training.
My background is science and there is nothing ‘alternative’ about the Lightning Process approach. In fact I sometimes have doctors sit in to observe the trainings and comment that it makes good scientific sense. The controversial element of the Lightning Process is that it contradicts the current thinking held by some that there is nothing you can do to recover from CFS/ME.
There is certainly lots of research that points to why use of the Lightning Process training can be effective.
They include the new understanding of Neural Plasticity (how the brain is not hard wired as previosuly thought and that its physical structure of neurones can be purposely changed through retraining/learning), Epigenetics (how environmental factors may turn genes off or on giving a genetic or physical change without a change in DNA), the physiological effect of Stressors on the body systems starting with the work of endocrinologist Hans Selye , and the new field of science known as psychoneuroimmunology (the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body).
More direct research coming out of Norway has given us a better understanding of possible causes of CFS/ME and an understanding why purely physical or purely psychological approaches have failed, and why the Lightning Process is getting such quick results.
Study Announced in UK
It has become clear to many that the Lightning Process is not like other treatments for ME/CFS. There has also been great interest in it from many health care professionals and private health insurance companies that have seen patients get benefit from the training.
Although many have now seen the effectiveness of the training in their own lives, it is important that rigorous trials are conducted in a more formalised way.
In March this year, UK’s healthcare system, the NHS, announced that one of the top ME/CFS hospitals in the country would conduct a feasibility study into whether recruiting to a trial is possible. This is an important and exciting part of the process of scientifically validating if the Lightning Process works. You can read more about the study here.
READ RESEARCH AND OTHER FINDINGS BELOW
Can CFS/ME be explained by sustained arousal?
(Behavioral and Brain Functions Journal 2009)
“Based upon our findings, we have formulated a theory of sustained arousal in CFS, which seems to correspond quite neatly to the theoretical considerations underlying the Lightning Process.” Dr Wyller.
Recent research by Dr Vegard Bruun Wyller MD PhD at the Division of Paediatrics, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway concludes that ME sufferers’ bodies are stuck in a permanent state of enhanced sympathetic nervous activity, with a concurrent sustained humoural stress response. Research carried out, gives some physiological pointers as to why the Lightning Process is achieving quick results.
Dr Wyller says: ‘Recent research on CFS pathophysiology has revealed alterations of cardiovascular regulation and thermoregulation, characterised by enhanced sympathetic nervous activity and increased secretion of epinephrine. These findings indicate a state of permanent distress response – sustained arousal – in CFS patients. Based upon our findings, we have formulated a theory of sustained arousal in CFS, which seems to correspond quite neatly to the theoretical considerations underlying the Lightning Process.’
Behavioral and Brain Functions 2009, 5:10doi:10.1186/1744-9081-5-10 Read the full paper here.