THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 43 FEBRUA RY 26, 2020

Photographed by Damon Casarez

F

Meet Frank Lawlis, an influential adviser to

the King of Daytime TV, whose controversial practices

(including a device to treat mental illness) have been

deemed potentially dangerous by the scientific community:

‘It’s predatory on people who are desperate’ BY GARY BAUM

BEHIND

DR.PHIL

FRANK LAWLIS POSSESSES A DEEP TEXAS DRAWL, ONE THAT MAKES THE NOW-ICONIC

intonation of Dr. Phil McGraw — his decades-long friend and business

associate — seem almost city-slicker by comparison. His down-home

voice, along with the bolo ties, pale eyes and unkempt white hair, are

a comfort to the clients who travel to his private practice from all over

the country in the hope that he can help mend minds — even those

minds that other doctors cannot.

The Lawlis Peavey PsychoNeuroPlasticity Center, in suburban

Lewisville north of Dallas, primarily caters, by his estimate, to trou-

bled adolescents as well as people decades older “who’ve never been

able to launch themselves,” he says. A battery of tests, including brain

mapping, is administered in an attempt to pinpoint the problem dur-

ing a two-day visit. Only a diagnosis is provided in exchange for the

$9,295 fee, not treatment.

The Lewisville center is where Lawlis screens select Dr. Phil guests as

well as many clients who’ve found their way through the door because

they watch the CBS-syndicated daytime show. It’s also where, in

between rooms devoted to a hyperbaric chamber and a sensory depri-

vation compartment, Lawlis takes his seat in a remote studio for his

regular Dr. Phil segments.

Since Dr. Phil’s

2002 debut, the

host has faced

criticism over his

credibility.