Wayson Lee, PhD Fraud, Strikes Back...Or Tries To

A while ago, we wrote about Wayson Lee from Washington, DC, who FALSELY claimed to have earned a PhD, a Doctor of Clinical Hypnosis. See http://fakedoctorate.blogspot.com/2012/11/wayson-lee-washington-dc-fake-doctorate.html

He sent us a series of emails last night ranting about how he "never got a gig based on 'degree.'" And that doctors "suck" at their profession. Well, Mr. Wayson Lee, it is quite clear that, if your "abilities shine through" like you claim, then you would have no need to misrepresent your academic qualifications. You are NOT a doctor of anything. It is quite clear that you are lying about having a PhD in order to increase your own credibility.

We don't have the time to write about Wayson Lee's rants about Iceland, so we'll just publish his rant for you.

Dorothy Neddermeyer, Phoenix & Scottsdale, Arizona - FAKE DOCTORATE

Dorothy Neddermeyer of Genesis Consultants located in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona falsely claims to have earned a PhD. Just like many of the other perpetrators we have identified, Neddermeyer conveniently leaves out the details such as from where she earned her "PhD" and in what field.

Mary Sidhwani of Ellicott City, Maryland = FAKE DOCTORATE

Mary Sidhwani is another non-doctors proclaiming, at every possible opportunity, that she holds a doctorate. Our first red flag was that she claims to have earned a "Masters in Clinical Hypnotherapy." Readers of this blog know well and clear that there is no such degree anywhere in the world. Yes, there are many degree mills who will sell you a piece of paper that reads "Masters in Clinical Hypnotherapy." However, it's worth as much as the paper that it's written on.

Next, Mary Sidhwani claims to be a psychotherapist. We researched this with the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists at https://mdbnc.dhmh.md.gov/pctVerification/

As we suspected, there is nobody by the name of Sidhwani anywhere in Maryland licensed to work as a psychotherapist.

Finally, in every web search pertaining to Mary Sidhwani, where she claims to have earned a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, she completely (and conveniently) omits the name of the institution from where she supposedly earned said degree.

Marianna Lead, New York - FAKE PhD!

Marianna Lead of the Goal Imagery Institute in New York is another one of those people who never earned a doctorate (and from what we can tell, it looks like she's also never even earned a bachelor's degree), yet LOVE to call themselves "Dr." at every possible opportunity.

She is apparently a "trainer" for the International Coach Federation and the International Association of Counselors and Therapists (right up there with one of the most notorious fake PhD's, Robert Otto).

As is the case with many of these scam artists, Marianna Lead fails to cite where any degrees were earned, or in what field. Readers of our blog know that this one of the red flags to look for when considering hiring or training with such an individual.

Hypnotist renounces fake PhD from Alpha University

Another well-known hypnotist and teacher of hypnosis from the UK, has renounced his scam PhD he supposedly earned from "Alpha University," thanks to our blog.

Of course, he does so kicking and screaming.

On his Facebook page, he wrote:

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ FULLY!

I hereby fully renounce the 'Doctorate in Philosophy in Behavioural Sciences' that I announced a few months ago.

This was NOT a 'bought degree'. On the contrary, I had submitted in excess of 200,000 words to what I had been led to believe was a private but bona fide university in Louisiana for their PhD programme. I was assured that the submission would be externally validated by California University and everything seemed genuine. The papers I subsequently received looked authentic, were complete in every detail, and included degree certification from both universities, transcripts, course details, evaluation reports and everything else you would expect.

Only a dimwit would think they can submit a "paper," regardless of how many words, and receive a valid doctorate. In a typical academic doctoral program, there are years of course work in your field and in also research methodology prior to even proposing a research paper. Once a paper is proposed, then it has to be approved by a committee, researched, submitted, and defended.

However, the recent attacks on my integrity and honesty led to me spending many hours investigating the situation. Smoke screens abound but I eventually discovered that the issuing university...

why don't you just say Alpha University?

...in Louisiana is a correspondence address (either that or it's a small office shared by several independent companies), the 'California University' is NOT the same place as the University of California (in fact, it's another correspondence address, albeit in 'University Tower, Campus Drive') and the 'validation office' appears to be a daycare centre for children. Therefore, in my opinion, this 'degree' is completely without value or credibility and I have returned all the papers to the issuing address.

I am now left with a feeling that I need to set the record straight. I do NOT hold a PhD. (My 'MCGI' from City & Guilds is the genuine article, however).

In my defence, I will say that there were many good reasons for me to accept the validity of this PhD programme, though they are not for discussion on a public forum.

Ignorantia juris non excusat.