Paul McKenna

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

Paul McKenna

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

His career to date includes self-improvement television shows, giving seminars through his company Paul McKenna Training, producing books and multimedia products and performing hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming and other personal development techniques. Many of his training courses and products provide tips for general life improvement, such as his books Change your life in 7 days, and NLP Practitioner courses. Other products and training are more specific, such as his course for assisting weight loss.

Professional career

Paul McKenna worked as a DJ in Top Shop at age 16. In 1984 he began work as a radio broadcaster joining Radio Caroline and later moving to Chiltern Radio in the mid-1980s.^{[citation needed]}

McKenna became interested in hypnosis when interviewing a hypnotist on his show.^{[citation needed]} His original interest was hypnosis for self-improvement, although he also demonstrated how it could be used for entertainment.^{[citation needed]} Whilst working as a DJ, he began experimenting with small hypnotic shows.^{[citation needed]} The early performances were first for the amusement of friends, then for paying audiences in pubs and clubs.^{[citation needed]} He promoted his shows on Capital and soon played theaters in the UK, USA and Ireland.^{[citation needed]} While the primary focus of his hypnotic shows was entertainment, he began to gain clients for professional one-to-one hypnotherapy.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1990s, he left Capital Radio and briefly joined BBC Radio One, before leaving radio to concentrate exclusively on hypnosis. In 1993, his TV series, The Hypnotic World of Paul McKenna, aired on ITV. The programme was shown in 42 countries. This entertainment show featured audience members who volunteered to be hypnotised, to act in comedic ways. Guest stars included Gloria Estefan, Bobby Womack, Lulu, and The Bee Gees. The programme was nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreaux in 1994 & 1995.^{[citation needed]}

During this time, McKenna continued to study hypnosis, and neuro-linguistic programming with Richard Bandler, the co-creator of NLP. In mid 1990s Paul McKenna set up McKenna Breen Ltd with Michael Breen which produced seminars on neuro-linguistic programming and hypnosis along with other merchandise.

He now runs "Paul McKenna Training" which claims to be the largest NLP training organisation in the world. ^{[citation needed]} McKenna has produced a range of self-help cassettes and books. In 2006 McKenna’s book sales reached £3.5m,^[1] McKenna has helped many celebrities link. Recently he 'helped Ellen DeGeneres to quit smoking' Sun link. He 'helped David Walliams with a time distortion technique' to help with swimming the English Channel link 1 link 2.

McKenna has made a number of television programs including The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna, Hyp the Streets, I Can Change Your Life (2005) and I Can Make You Thin (2006). I CAN MAKE YOU THIN, launched March 16, 2008, on TLC, The Learning Channel. In 2008, Paul McKenna became Britain’s highest paid T.V personality in a deal worth £23 million. ^[2]

Education controversy

In 1996, after 2 years of study on a 70,000 word thesis McKenna was granted a Ph. D from LaSalle University (Louisiana). LaSalle 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.^[3]

In 2004, McKenna gained a UK accredited PhD from the business school International Management Centres Association (IMCA) Link 1 Link 2, accredited by The British Accreditation Council The BAC The title of his thesis was "The Effects of Fixed Action Patterns and Neuro-Linguistic Programming in Determining Outcomes in Human Behaviour".

In 2006 he successfully sued The Daily Mirror for libel, over claims made by journalist Victor Lewis-Smith that McKenna obtained a "bogus degree" for the price of $2,615 to deliberately defraud the public (the degree was from LaSalle University (Louisiana)). McKenna won the case and substantial damages. Lewis Smith wrote about his "bogus degree" even though he knew that Paul McKenna had since earned a UK accredited Ph.D.

Published works

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.

References

^ Financial Times 18th November 2007
^ The Daily Mail 17th January 2008
^ Paul McKenna v MGN Ltd., 2006 EWHC 1996 (QB) (2006), Text.

Sources and further reading

General

McKenna's official website
Paul McKenna at IMDb
Interview with Paul McKenna about his work with NLP and Hypnosis
Guardian interview with McKenna
Guardian Unlimited: Don't Worry Get Therapy
Times Online article: Paul Mckenna
The Independent: The Eyes Have It
TRUTH BEHIND MY PAP PIX: Paul McKenna

Legal Coverage

1998 Case Against Christopher Gates

2006 Case Against The Daily Mirror