diff --git a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/enums.py b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/enums.py
index 2189063ee20ef..b3041a72cac3b 100644
--- a/pytorch_lightning/utilities/enums.py
+++ b/pytorch_lightning/utilities/enums.py
@@ -27,10 +27,10 @@ class LightningEnum(str, Enum):
 
     @classmethod
     def from_str(cls, value: str) -> LightningEnum | None:
-        statuses = [status for status in dir(cls) if not status.startswith("_")]
+        statuses = cls.__members__.keys()
         for st in statuses:
             if st.lower() == value.lower():
-                return getattr(cls, st)
+                return cls[st]
         return None
 
     def __eq__(self, other: object) -> bool:
@@ -43,21 +43,21 @@ def __hash__(self) -> int:
         return hash(self.value.lower())
 
 
-class _OnAccessEnumMeta(EnumMeta):
-    """Enum with a hook to run a function whenever a member is accessed.
+class _DeprecatedEnumMeta(EnumMeta):
+    """Enum that calls `deprecate()` whenever a member is accessed.
 
-    Adapted from:
-    https://www.buzzphp.com/posts/how-do-i-detect-and-invoke-a-function-when-a-python-enum-member-is-accessed
+    Adapted from: https://stackoverflow.com/a/62309159/208880
     """
 
     def __getattribute__(cls, name: str) -> Any:
         obj = super().__getattribute__(name)
-        if isinstance(obj, Enum):
+        # ignore __dunder__ names -- prevents potential recursion errors
+        if not (name.startswith("__") and name.endswith("__")) and isinstance(obj, Enum):
             obj.deprecate()
         return obj
 
     def __getitem__(cls, name: str) -> Any:
-        member: _OnAccessEnumMeta = super().__getitem__(name)
+        member: _DeprecatedEnumMeta = super().__getitem__(name)
         member.deprecate()
         return member
 
@@ -68,6 +68,12 @@ def __call__(cls, *args: Any, **kwargs: Any) -> Any:
         return obj
 
 
+class _DeprecatedEnum(LightningEnum, metaclass=_DeprecatedEnumMeta):
+    """_DeprecatedEnum calls an enum's `deprecate()` method on member access."""
+
+    pass
+
+
 class AMPType(LightningEnum):
     """Type of Automatic Mixed Precission used for training.
 
@@ -104,7 +110,7 @@ def supported_types() -> list[str]:
         return [x.value for x in PrecisionType]
 
 
-class DistributedType(LightningEnum, metaclass=_OnAccessEnumMeta):
+class DistributedType(_DeprecatedEnum):
     """Define type of training strategy.
 
     Deprecated since v1.6.0 and will be removed in v1.8.0.
@@ -145,7 +151,7 @@ def deprecate(self) -> None:
         )
 
 
-class DeviceType(LightningEnum, metaclass=_OnAccessEnumMeta):
+class DeviceType(_DeprecatedEnum):
     """Define Device type by its nature - accelerators.
 
     Deprecated since v1.6.0 and will be removed in v1.8.0.