Paul McKenna

This article is about the British hypnotist. For the British footballer, see Paul McKenna (footballer).

Paul McKenna

Paul McKenna (born 8 November 1963, in Enfield, Middlesex, England) is a British hypnotist, and television personality. According to the Sunday Times he is Britain's best selling non-fiction author and is published in 23 languages.

McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-improvement television shows and presents seminars in hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming and weight loss.

Performing career

Paul McKenna started in radio, aged 16, at in-store Radio Topshop, and went on to present for stations including Radio Jackie, Radio Caroline, Chiltern Radio and Capital Radio.

A hypnotist who guested on his show led to a developing interest in the subject, initially for reasons of self-improvement, although entertainment was later to play a big part. Whilst still working at Capital, he began experimenting with small hypnotic shows, first for the amusement of friends, then for paying audiences in pubs and clubs. McKenna then started doing regular Sunday night shows at the Duke of York's Theatre, which was owned at the time by Capital. The success of those shows led to his playing other theatres across the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, the US, Australia and Hong Kong.

After a brief spell at Radio 1 in the early 1990s, McKenna decided to quit radio. In 1993, ITV broadcast The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, which featured audience members volunteering to be hypnotised to act in comedic ways, the show subsequently being aired in 42 countries. During this time, McKenna continued to study hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming with Richard Bandler, the co-creator of NLP.

Many of McKenna's one-to-one hypnotherapy clients are celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres and David Walliams, who used McKenna's 'time distortion technique' to help with his swim across the English Channel .

In the 1990's, McKenna presented a number of TV programmes including The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna (1993-1995), Paul McKenna's Paranormal World (1997) and Hyp the Streets (1999). In January 2008, the Discovery Channel signed a £23 million deal with McKenna to make a series of self-help programmes. To date, the deal is the largest ever for a British TV personality. The first of his I Can Make You Thin programmes aired on TLC, The Learning Channel on March 16 2008.

Education

In 1996, after 2 years of study on a 70,000 word thesis McKenna was granted the doctoral degree PhD degree from LaSalle University (Louisiana). LaSalle University was properly licenced by the state of Louisiana, but falsely claimed to be an accredited university. After the principal of LaSalle pleaded guilty to fraud, McKenna, along with thousands of other students, was awarded compensation from the US government.

In 2004, McKenna completed an APEL and subsequently gained the doctoral degree DPhil from the International Management Centres Association (IMCA) . The title of his thesis was "The Effects of Fixed Action Patterns and Neuro-Linguistic Programming in Determining Outcomes in Human Behaviour". The IMCA, based in Buckingham, is accredited by the British Accreditation Council (BAC).. The BAC is an independent, reputable body, not a UK Government organisation. However, the IMCA is not listed on the UK Government's list of recognised degree-awarding institutions.

In 2006 McKenna successfully sued The Daily Mirror for libel, over claims made by journalist Victor Lewis-Smith that McKenna obtained a "bogus degree" merely for money to deliberately defraud the public (the degree was from LaSalle University (Louisiana)). McKenna won the case and substantial damages. Lewis Smith wrote about this "bogus degree" even though he believed that Paul McKenna had since earned a UK accredited doctorate.

Paul McKenna also works professionaly with Genpo Roshi and will be making a guest appearance at his Big Mind Big Heart workshop on 25 January 2009 in London.

Publishing career

In mid 1990s Paul McKenna set up McKenna Breen Ltd with Michael Breen which produced seminars on neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis. McKenna has produced a range of self-help cassettes and books, in 2006 his book sales alone reaching £3.5m.

He has also published:

• I Can Make You Rich , Bantam Press: 2007. ISBN 0-593-05537-3
• Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight , Bantam Press: 2007. ISBN 0-593-05536-5
• Instant Confidence, Bantam Press: 2006. ISBN 0-593-05535-7
• I Can Make You Thin, Bantam Press: 2005. ISBN 0-593-05054-1
• Change Your Life in Seven Days, 2005 (with Hugh Willbourn) ISBN 0-593-05053-3
• How to Mend Your Broken Heart, Bantam Press: 2003. ISBN 0-593-05055-X
• The Power to Influence, Nightingale-Conant: 1998. ISBN 1-905453-56-6 (audiobook with Michael Breen)
• The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna, Faber and Faber: 1997. ISBN 0-571-19245-9
• Paul McKenna's Hypnotic Secrets , Boxtree: 1995. ISBN 0-7522-0192-1 (with Peter Willis and Clare Staples)
• The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, Faber and Faber: 1994. ISBN 0-571-16802-7

McKenna has also released a number of audio recordings including Sleep Like a Log, Eliminate Stress, and Stop Smoking for Good. He also wrote the foreword to Nikolic, Seka and Sarah Tay, You Can Heal Yourself: Bio-energy and the Power of Self-healing, Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd.: 2006. ISBN 0-283-07038-2.

External links

• The Official Paul McKenna website
• Paul McKenna at IMDb
• Guardian interview with McKenna

See also

• Richard Bandler
• Hypnosis
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• Neuro-linguistic programming bibliography