The Lightning Process

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The Lightning Process (LP) is a three-day personal training programme developed and trademarked by British osteopath Phil Parker.^[1] It makes unsubstantiated claims to be beneficial for various conditions, including ME/CFS, depression and chronic pain.

Developed in the late 1990s, it aims to teach techniques for managing the acute stress response that the body experiences under threat. The course aims to help recognise the stress response, calm it and manage it in the long term. It also applies some ideas drawn from neurolinguistic programming (a pseudoscience), as well as elements of life coaching.

The approach has raised some controversy due to using psychological techniques to cure a physical illness.^[2] The website was amended after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that it was misleading.^[3] In 2021, after a review of the available evidence, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence explicitly advised against the use of Lighting Process among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.^[4]