Paul William McKenna (born 8 November 1963) is a British

hypnotist Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

, behavioural scientist, television and radio broadcaster and author of

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subs ...

books. McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-improvement television shows and presents seminars in

hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...

neuro-linguistic programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy, that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's 1975 book ''The Structure of Magic I''. NLP claims that th ...

, weight loss, motivation and the Zen meditation Big Mind and Amygdala Depotentiation Therapy (ADT), otherwise known as Havening Techniques.

Career

Show business

McKenna started off in radio aged 16 at Radio Topshop, and went on to present for stations including

Radio Jackie Radio Jackie is an Independent Local Radio station in Kingston upon Thames, England broadcasting news, popular hits, and local information to South-West London and North Surrey from its studios in Tolworth. History Radio Jackie began as a p ...

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

, Chiltern Radio,

Capital London Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

and TV channel

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'' ...

. He became interested in hypnotism as a result of a guest who appeared on his show. His interest stemmed initially for reasons of self-development, although he discovered that there was an entertainment aspect that he could develop which would expose more of the public to the power of hypnosis. He was taught hypnosis by American practitioner Richard Bandler, with whom he continued to work closely for many years. While working at Capital Radio, McKenna began experimenting with small hypnotic shows, first for the amusement of friends, then for audiences in locations like pubs and clubs, UK military bases, and university events. From there he starred in a regular Sunday night show at the

Duke of York's Theatre The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...

, which was owned at the time by Capital Radio. The success of those shows led to his playing other theatres across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, the US, Australia, and Hong Kong. After several years presenting at Radio 1 in the early 1990s, McKenna decided to branch out from radio. In the 1990s, McKenna presented a number of TV programmes including ''The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna'' (1993–97), ''The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna'' (1996–97) and ''Hyp the Streets'' (1999). He won the TRIC (Television & Radio Industry Club) Award for Best TV Newcomer in 199
From small-time radio DJ to TV star attracting millions of viewers around the world
During this time, he continued his studies of hypnosis and

with the US psychologist Richard Bandler, the co-creator of the advanced behavioural science technique abbreviated to NLP. McKenna hypnotised the ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

'' presenter

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...

on series 4, episode 2 of the motor show in 2004. In October 2009 he was a guest on ''

Private Passions ''Private Passions'' is a weekly music discussion programme that has been running since 15 April 1995 on BBC Radio 3, presented by the composer Michael Berkeley. The production was formerly made by Classic Arts Productions, a British radio a ...

'', the biographical music discussion programme on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The sta ...

. From February 2014 to September 2015, McKenna hosted a talk show called ''McKenna'' broadcast on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

featuring "non-journalistic" interviews with

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality, entrepreneur and record executive. He is the creator of '' The X Factor'' and ''Got Talent'' franchises which have been sold around the world. He has judged on ...

Ryan Seacrest Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of '' Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and ' ...

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series ''30 Minute Meals'' ...

, Tony Robbins and

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ...

Research

McKenna specialises in working with

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

, severe trauma, pain control and emotional overwhelm. McKenna was also involved in a research study conducted by Professor Neil Greenberg of The Royal College of Psychiatrists Lead for Military and Veterans’ Health.

Self help career

McKenna’s interest in hypnosis,

and other self-improvement techniques has resulted in him becoming an author of self-help and personal development books. Many of McKenna's one-to-one

hypnotherapy Hypnotherapy is a type of mind–body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern. Popularized by 17th and 18th c ...

clients are celebrities. He helped

Daryl Hannah Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...

cope with stage fright when she starred in The Seven Year Itch. According to a book by McKenna, Rob Brydon claims that McKenna helped alleviate his fear of flying, Stephen Fry advocated McKenna's weight loss strategies and David Walliams used McKenna to help with his swim across the English Channel. McKenna has focused on teaching people how to "deprogramme" their sugar cravings, claiming "sugar is the most dangerous drug in the world".

Education

McKenna attended St Ignatius College in London, and East Hertfordshire College, now part of Hertford Regional College. In 1996, McKenna was granted a PhD from

LaSalle University La Salle University () is a private, Catholic university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The university was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools and named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. History La ...

in Louisiana. It was legally licensed by the state, but it falsely claimed to be an accredited institution. The title of his thesis was "The Effects of Fixed Action Patterns and

Neuro-Linguistic Programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy, that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's 1975 book ''The Structure of Magic I''. NLP claims that th ...

in Determining Outcomes in Human Behaviour". In 2006, McKenna successfully sued the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its Masthead (British publishing), masthead was simpl ...

'' for

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...

over claims made by former ''Mirror'' TV critic

Victor Lewis-Smith Victor Lewis-Smith (12 May 1957 – 10 December 2022) was a British film, television and radio producer, a television and restaurant critic, a satirist and newspaper columnist. He was executive producer of the ITV1 Annual National Food & Dr ...

that McKenna's degree from LaSalle was merely a purchased "bogus degree" bought with the intention of deliberately defrauding the public. McKenna won the case, and the newspaper was ordered to pay £75,000 in costs. Mr. Justice Eady (the judge), stated that while the scholarly characterisation of the degree was "another matter", McKenna did not believe the degree was "bogus or that he admisled anyone in allowing himself to be referred to as a PhD."

List of published works

* ''Control Stress'' Hay House 2017 * ''Supercharge Your Intelligence Today!'' Hay House 2017 * ''Get Control of Sugar Now!'' Hay House 2017 * ''The 3 Things That Will Change Your Destiny Today!'' Hay House 2016 * ''Freedom from Emotional Eating'' Hay House 2015 * ''Instant Influence and Charisma'' Transworld 2015 * ''Hypnotic Gastric Band''

Bantam Press Bantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Penguin Random House. It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the ...

2013 * ''I Can Make You Smarter'' Bantam Press 2012 * ''I Can Make You Happy'' Bantam Press: 2011 * ''Change Your Life in Seven Days - Updated version'' Bantam Press: 2010 * ''I Can Make You Confident'',

Sterling Publishing Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. is a publisher of a broad range of subject areas, with multiple imprints and more than 5,000 titles in print. Founded in 1949 by David A. Boehm, Sterling also publishes books for a number of brands, including AA ...

: 2010. * ''I Can Make You Sleep'', Bantam Press: 2009. * ''Control Stress Stop Worrying and Feel Good Now!'', Bantam Press: 2009. * ''I Can Make You Rich'', Bantam Press: 2007. * ''Quit Smoking Today Without Gaining Weight'', Bantam Press: 2007. * ''Instant Confidence'', Bantam Press: 2006. * ''I Can Make You Thin 90-Day Success Journal'', Bantam Press: 2006. * ''I Can Make You Thin'', Bantam Press: 2005. * ''Change Your Life in Seven Days'', 2005. * ''How to Mend Your Broken Heart'', (with Hugh Willbourn) Bantam Press: 2003. * ''The Power to Influence'', Nightingale-Conant: 1998. (audiobook with Michael Breen) * ''The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna'',

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

: 1997. * ''Paul McKenna's Hypnotic Secrets'', Boxtree: 1995. (with Peter Willis and Clare Staples) * ''Hypno Slim'', Sunday Books: 1994. * ''The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna'', Faber and Faber: 1994.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Paul 1963 births Living people British hypnotists English radio presenters English television presenters English writers Neuro-linguistic programming writers People educated at St Ignatius' College, Enfield People from Enfield, London Offshore radio broadcasters People from Hackney Central