The Devil is in the Details
[Click here to watch Dr. Doug’s Miracle Money video]
The internet can be a Pandora’s Box. Information is available with the click of a mouse about even the most private person. For those who are anything but shy, the internet can be a great way to self-promote.
Dr. Doug Weiss, the founder of Heart to Heart Counseling Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a self-described nationally recognized psychologist, a sexual addiction expert, and a prolific author. He trademarked the term, Intimacy Anorexia®, which he defines as “the active withholding of emotional, spiritual, and/or sexual intimacy from a spouse or significant other.” For Doug Weiss, the internet is a means of self-promotion.
For even the most seasoned sleuth, the cyberspace Pandora’s Box about Doug Weiss is a tangled web. “Information Anorexia” permeates questions about “Dr. Doug’s” education, his professional license, and his nonprofit. Finding answers is like playing a virtual game of Whack a Mole.
“Dr. Doug” added a new title about a year ago; husband to the widowed co-founder of Daystar Television Network, a Christian broadcasting nonprofit. He married Joni Lamb on June 10, 2023, amid much fanfare after divorcing his wife of more than three decades, Lisa, in early 2022. Marcus Lamb, the founder of Daystar, died from COVID-related complications on November 30, 2021.
Doug Weiss was a frequent guest on Daystar, giving marital advice and intimacy tips to viewers including an appearance in May 2019 in which he claimed: “Christ died so we could have great sex.” A search of Scripture has been unsuccessful in proving that claim, but perhaps Dr. Doug received greater insight into why Jesus was crucified while obtaining his Master of Divinity at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1990. The Senior Associate Registrar, John Hofecker, confirmed that degree and a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling in 1989. Maybe his studies in the field of psychology gave him that perspective. The task of finding information on his Ph.D became a tangled trek through a house of mirrors.
A simple Google search for “Doug Weiss PhD CV” should have easily turned up his curriculum vitae.
Instead, the first link was to his website which has a curriculum vitae section but does not mention specific education or schools. The second link is for Douglas Weiss, Ph.D’s LinkedIn page. It indicates he earned his Doctorate of Psychology from Northcentral University in 2004.
An attempt to confirm the degree anywhere else online failed. Northcentral University (NCU) was acquired by the National University system in 2019. The Registrar’s Office at National University was unable to confirm the Ph.D without a signed release from Doug Weiss.
The pursuit surrounding confirmation of his credentials might seem like unjustified, and somewhat creepy stalking, but questions surrounding his Ph.D date back more than two decades.
In an article in The Colorado Springs Gazette on December 8, 2002, reporter Warren Epstein wrote: “Weiss pursued a doctorate of psychology at California Coast University in Santa Ana in 1994, but school records show he never received the degree. Weiss says he did the work needed for his Ph.D. — except the oral portion of his dissertation.
In 1998, he earned a doctorate of psychology from an online school called Monticello University. “This was back when we trusted the Internet,” Weiss says. “We thought it was real.”
Turns out, Monticello wasn’t. In May 2000, Kansas officials shut down Monticello University. Its founder was fined $1.5 million for promising real college degrees when its faculty were untrained and not accredited. Degrees from the university were declared bogus.
Weiss’ books listed him as Douglas Weiss, Ph.D. His Web site (sic), his biography on Amazon. com and his brochures included his doctorate title. Even his patients called him “Dr. Doug.” He had been using his doctorate title for five years when a Gazette reporter questioned the credentials. “I don’t know why problems at my school should reflect on me,” he said when informed about Monticello’s fate.”
The article continues: “By the end of the year, Weiss says, he’ll decide whether to return to school for his doctorate and become “Dr. Doug” again or whether he’ll forget about it and stay “Just Doug.” He’s not sure he needs the title.”
That interview from nearly 22 years ago prompted more questions and the quest for answers.
Why would Doug Weiss, a man who has appeared on dozens of television shows including Dr. Phil, Oprah, Good Morning America, and multiple shows on Daystar Television Network shy away from completing the oral portion of his dissertation after completing coursework for his doctorate of psychology at California Coast University in 1994? That may remain a mystery because the Registrar’s Office at CCU echoed National University’s policy about needing a signed release to confirm the degree.
Why would Doug Weiss enroll at Monticello University, a so-called diploma mill, in 1998 to again pursue his Ph.D? Operation Dipscam was conducted by the FBI, the General Accountability Office, and the Committee of Education and the Workforce. The investigation resulted in the closure of 39 diploma mills, including Monticello University.Three times appeared to be a charm for Doug Weiss in his goal to achieve a Ph.D.
He touts 2004 on his LinkedIn profile as the year he earned his doctorate. But wait, there’s more! Documents obtained from the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) revealed that he applied to be a licensed psychologist on June 9, 2005. However, his license wasn’t granted by May 19, 2008.
The Healthcare Profile on the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) website has additional information:
- 2008 was entered as the initial year he achieved his Ph.D
- Not board certified
- No practice specialty in which he is “appropriately trained and actively practicing.”
- Disciplinary action was taken against him in 2010
- Malpractice claim and arbitration settlement in 2021
- Refusal of malpractice insurance in 2010 and 2021
The submission date on the summarized profile information was July 28, 2023. Doug Weiss was contacted and given sufficient time to reply to the request for clarification, but declined to answer.
He received two Letters of Admonition from the state licensing board during his tenure of practicing in Colorado, first as a licensed professional counselor and then as a licensed psychologist.
In 2002, the State Board of Licensing Professional Examiners determined that he misrepresented his credentials by using the term ‘Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist” and took formal disciplinary action. In 2010, “Dr. Doug” was in hot water again, this time with the Colorado State Boards of Psychologist and Licensed Professional Counselor Examiners. The Boards found that about three months after Doug Weiss became a licensed psychologist, he treated a married couple in the form of a three-day intensive counseling retreat. It was determined that he “created more adversity and alienation between the couple and elevated the marital discord by becoming an executioner of the marriage and rushing both of them into discussions about ending the marriage, distribution of marital assets, divorce, and moving on with their lives; writing anger letters, and writing ‘good-bye letters’ to their dreams, their marriage, and each other.” The Boards concluded that it is “necessary to protect the public health, safety, and welfare” and issued a Letter of Admonition because of the violations. Here is the link to the filing for the malpractice lawsuit. It includes questions about the validity of the diagnosis of sex addiction and the use of polygraphs:
https://trellis.law/doc/165148294/complaint-w-jury-demand
The empire of Doug Weiss is multi-faceted. It includes Heart to Heart Counseling Center; The American Association of Sex Addiction Therapy, a training and certification program he started and is the president; Discovery Press, which he utilizes to self-publish the books he writes; Honest to Pete, a polygraph company licensed to his ex-wife, Lisa; Weiss & Weiss, an LLC that was recently renewed by Lisa Weiss in addition to Cereset Garden of the Gods, a treatment center that claims to harmonize your brain; and Healing Time Ministries, a nonprofit with the mission to “heal the world.”
That nonprofit with a lofty mission is soliciting donations across several platforms on social media. Healing Time Ministries is registered as a 501(c)3 in Colorado. The IRS requires nonprofits to file a Form 990 each year. Tax-exempt organizations have a few options depending on the amount of donations and assets they receive annually. Healing Time Ministries filed Form 990-N (e-Postcard) which is for small nonprofits whose gross receipts are less than $50,000. Healing Time Ministries was formed in 2014, and each year through 2020, it filed Form 990-N. The IRS website shows no 990 forms were filed in 2021 and 2022.
There was a substantial donation to Healing Time Ministries in 2022 from the Carl and Edyth Lindner Foundation. Public records show that a $400,000 donation was made to Healing Time Ministries in 2022 and reported on the Carl and Edyth Lindner Foundation’s Form 990. After multiple requests for information regarding Healing Time Ministries’ missing Form 990s, a woman who refused to identify herself by name but said she was with the organization, called from a blocked number and said they are taking the request for further information seriously and working with their new accountant to get answers. According to the IRS website, the 2023 Form 990-N has recently been filed by Lisa Weiss. She is currently listed as the principal officer of the organization for the first time since its inception in 2014. Before the 2023 filing, Doug Weiss was the principal officer. Perhaps the change in officers is a result of the 990 mishaps that happened in 2021 and 2022.
In 2023, Healing Time Ministries received a $150,000 donation, again from The Carl and Edyth Lindner Foundation, which was not reflected in the 990-N that was filed by Lisa Weiss. Once again, multiple requests for clarification were ignored.
Those were likely tempestuous years in the world of Weiss. Doug and Lisa divorced in the early part of 2022 after almost 36 years of marriage. The latter part of the year was likely swept up by Doug’s whirlwind romance with Daystar’s Joni Lamb which resulted in marriage after a quick courtship.
Healing Time Ministries currently has a program on Daystar Television Network that runs five days a week and is soliciting donations to fund the production of the program. An email to Healing Time Ministries inquiring about the costs associated with producing a program on the network Doug Weiss’ wife runs was unanswered, as was a question asked on the nonprofit’s Facebook post.
Daystar is registered in Georgia as Word of God Fellowship, Inc., and according to its late founder, Marcus Lamb, the network was valued at almost a billion dollars. Daystar is not required to file Form 990 because the IRS allows it to be designated as a church, and churches do not have to disclose tax-free income or how it is spent. It might be a stretch for Healing Time Ministries to receive the same designation because of the nature of its topics.
The “sexorcist” approach of blending psychology with the snippets of scripture is the gospel of “Dr. Doug.” For example, he boldly proclaimed in a video that “You want your penis to be strong for the rest of your life. You want your vagina to be strong and also where it doesn’t go into that oval shape but stays in that circle shape so it feels more like that young vagina.”
At a Promise Keepers event in Canada several years ago, he thanked Jesus for making them sexual men, informed the crowd that God told him to tell his roommate every time he masturbated, and claimed that you can have a cursed penis or a blessed penis and added, “If you’re gonna have a penis, you might as well have a blessed one, amen?”
His YouTube channel has 137,000 subscribers who can watch videos at their leisure, including several on his trademarked Intimacy Anorexia® and the most popular of all time with 1.4 million views: How to Stop Masturbating. Among the tips in the sizzling-hot video:
- Place a rubber band around your wrist and if you feel yourself jerked back into the naughty behavior, snap it!
- Find yourself a buddy to hold you accountable. If you stray into wanton behavior, tattle on yourself to your friend.
The self-proclaimed recovering sex and pornography addict claims he has been clean for 38 years and used to post the results of his polygraph test on social media to prove it. Maybe he hasn’t had time lately to get strapped in the chair for the test that would prove he isn’t a liar, liar, pants on fire, or maybe it would be awkward because his son-in-law, Chase Cocking, is the polygrapher … but “Dr. Doug” hasn’t posted his polygraph recently. The Facebook post from 2020 claims an independent polygrapher verifies sexual integrity, but Honest to Pete, a polygraph company, is licensed to Lisa Weiss.
It is highly commendable that Doug Weiss, who is also a bodybuilder, does not fall into temptation while oiling up his perpetually tanned physique to compete in contests filled with scantily clad women and an admiring audience eyeballing his 62-year-old anatomy. A closer look at his competition photos does not reveal a rubber band around his wrist. He might have another trick or two up his sleeve to squelch shameful desires that he has yet to share.
The Information Anorexia (not trademarked) surrounding the very public Dr. Doug Weiss has nothing to do with the image he has created for himself across the decades as a “sexpert,” but rather how he got here. It sure seems that the qualification that he would want to shout from the rooftop would be the cornerstone of his practice; his education. Instead, trying to pin down the schooling that allows him to use the coveted title of “Doctor” and the three-letter alphabet after his name, Douglas Weiss, Ph.D, which he also trademarked, is like cutting off the mythical creature Hydra’s head. Another grows back.
[Click here to watch Fifty Shades of Dr. Doug video]
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