“Men’s mental health is not being catered for,” says Paul McKenna matter-of-factly. “There are extreme figures around young male suicide. Stress, anxiety and depression are all indicators that men need all the help they can get.”
Paul McKenna, the international best-selling hypnotist, says he can help. To that end he has formed an unlikely partnership with TV adventurer Bear Grylls and reality star turned medical expert Dr Alex George, lending his expertise in hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to a new AI-powered men’s mental health app called Mettle.
McKenna’s journey into the world of mental wellness is circuitous. Starting as a young radio host, he stumbled upon hypnosis during a chance encounter with a local hypnotist. What began as a personal quest for stress relief soon morphed into a passion for helping others navigate the complexities of the mind. He has since sold more than 10m self-help books and been published in 32 languages, including best-sellers Freedom From Anxiety and Positivity.
Speaking in the composed but energetic tone that has captivated his millions of followers, he tells me about his initial foray into the world of mind control. “Working in local radio, I’d had a bad day. I broke up with my girlfriend and the people in the apartment where I was living were keeping me up. I sat down to interview a hypnotist and he said, ‘Look, rather than you interview me, let me do you. Because you need some stress control my friend’.
Success and happiness are the result of certain ways of thinking and acting
Paul McKenna
“I was sceptical but I sat back and all my burdens lifted. My mind calmed down. I could suddenly see a better future. I woke up thinking it’d been two minutes but it had been half an hour. I felt great.”
After this encounter, McKenna was lent a book written by self-help guru Richard Bandler, who would become his most influential mentor, marking the beginning of his own journey into that lucrative field. Initially, he showcased his skills as a captivating party trick, hypnotising guests into entertaining acts such as dancing like ballerinas.
As his expertise grew, he transitioned to helping friends with weight loss and quitting smoking, before going on to host theatrical shows throughout the 90s. McKenna’s blend of entertainment and therapy catapulted him to global fame, leading to TV shows and best-selling books. Yet, amidst the glitz and glamour, his “true calling” emerged – to support the quest for better mental health and empower listeners to take control of their lives.
“I thought maybe people would like what I’ve got to say, so I came up with a book called Change Your Life in Seven Days. I had no idea it was going to become an international bestseller. My publisher came back to me and said, ‘You’re not going anywhere, mate. We want a few more of these.’
“I’m not really a writer, I’m a talker. But I do know about certain subjects, like how to lose weight, how to become confident, and how to sleep well at night. So I wrote about these in a very user-friendly way. I am still writing books today – it amazes me that I’m still on the bestseller list.”
Fast forward almost 30 years, and while the ways of listening to McKenna have changed, the demand for mental health support is greater than ever. This is how McKenna found himself in partnership with Mettle, an AI mental fitness app designed specifically for men.
Mettle’s evidence-based approach, backed by research from Imperial College London, claims to offer a safe space for men to explore and improve their mental wellbeing through techniques including meditation, breathwork, and hypnosis. But why men specifically, and are there differences in male and female mental health treatments?
“Well, in a sense, we’re all human, so you could say we’re all the same, right? But there are clearly some differences between men and women. Some men just enjoy being talked to by men. Bear Grylls, I think it’s fair to say, is a pretty good role model as a man: he’s a tough guy, but he’s got a sense of humour.”
He says AI plays a significant role in the app, particularly for men who may struggle to discuss their feelings openly in person. I wonder how McKenna compares virtual therapy to in-person sessions?
“Virtual therapy works really well,” he says. “I was sceptical at the beginning of the pandemic, when I couldn’t do seminars or meet people in person for therapy. But I was amazed at how well it works.
“The person pops up on the screen, but I can still connect with them. “With the Mettle app, the quality of the recordings is very, very high. In the trances that I’ve recorded for the app, what happens is I talk to the left brain and right brain simultaneously. So I’m talking to your whole brain, right? This is something we can do with modern, advanced audio production.
“So in some ways you can offer more with a really highly-produced recording than you can in a live session. If people are super anxious about getting help, they might be too scared to even speak to a person, so it’s good to have virtual therapy available to them. You hit a button and I’m there for you.”
McKenna underscores the importance of having a sense of purpose and defined goals. “This year, I noticed that people were not just anxious, they were directionless,” he says. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with people who are high achievers in the arts, in business, in sports.
“Success and happiness are not accidents that randomly happen to some people and not others. “It’s about thinking and acting and so I codified those areas, which are self-belief and clarity. Being really clear about what it is you want. Most people spend more time making a list for the supermarket than they do the next five years of their life.”
“When we look at fitness, like an athlete preparing themselves to be in phenomenal shape, you will ask ‘What’s the secret to good health?’ – they’ll say there are four things: sleep, diet, exercise, and mindset. Success and happiness are the result of certain ways of thinking and acting.”
Whether you can learn the key to success and happiness through an app remains to be seen but there’s no doubt McKenna knows a thing or two about success, and after an inspiring chat with him, he seems pretty content, too.
Mettle is available to download now.