Re: Ex-sufferer champions ME therapy (Lowestoft Journal, 20 June 2008)

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Reply to an article promoting the Lightning Process as a treatment for M.E.

(Ex-sufferer champions ME therapy, Lowestoft Journal, 20 June 2008) -- link

below my signature.

May I suggest that as many as can manage respond to this. Some people have

written on the same subject before to other papers and their letters could

be adapted for this. I, also, think it is important to get as many shades of

opinion as we can to make a good debate. Whether they choose your letter we

would like to put it on our website. For efficiency, you can just BCC us if

you like.

The address is russell.cook@...

It seems to have quite a good letters section, called " Postbag " , for the

size of the paper.

Cheers

drjohngreensmith@...

*Lowestoft Journal Letters*.

The Lightning Process may well be " thriving " because of the free advertising

it is getting in articles such as this one (*Ex-sufferer champions ME

therapy, Lowestoft Journal, 20 June 2008*), featuring Kate Simpson, who

sells it on, in pyramid-fashion, after claiming that it brought recovery, at

quite miraculous speed, when all other treatments had failed.

There is no reliable scientific evidence that the Lightning Process works

for any of the conditions listed on its website but it is especially

doubtful for M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), an acknowledged neurological

illness, which it heavily exploits with before/after treatment photos in its

advertising campaign. The majority of people with the diagnosis M.E. would

be able to be amongst those who " travel all over the UK and from abroad "

because 25% of them are housebound, or bedridden and the remainder are

mostly just not that mobile and are, therefore, it is unlikely that they

would " get well with us. "

It is unknown and unexplained how the Lightning Process works; it is not

approved by any orthodox medical organisation; it has not been

independently, scientifically, tested but relies, one-sidedly, on references

from former patients - sometimes now turned trainers - who say it worked for

them. It is practised by a disparate group of people with diverse and vague

qualifications, such as " Life Coach " for example, with no recognised

universal standards. The trainers, who are franchised by Lightning Process

inventor Phil , in return for a training fee and a percentage of the

take, appear to be sworn to secrecy about what will happen in a session,

until the patient parts with the money. It's quite a costly business. A

session costs as much per hour as some people with M.E., on benefits, have

to live on for a week. The final total figure, most often quoted, is £560

but we have heard of people who have paid much larger sums. The Lightning

Process relies on faith and on cooperation by the patient so, if the patient

says they improved, it is possible to claim success for the Lightning

Process but, if the patient complains they are no better, it is possible to

say that they were uncooperative or somehow not ready for it. Perhaps, worst

of all,it offers false hope that will not be realised in most cases.

Lightning Process advocates appear to be equally secretive about the success

rate, without relapse, compared with those who remain so ill with M.E. that

they may be discounted from the statistics.

Yours sincerely

drjohngreensmith@...

Dr H Greensmith

ME Free For All. org

Ex-sufferer champions ME therapy (Lowestoft Journal, 20 June 2008)

*http://tinyurl.com/62rerw*