Augusto Cury

Augusto Jorge Cury (born 2 October 1958) is a Brazilian physician, psychiatrist, author, professor, and politician. He first rose to prominence through his extensive body of literary work, which encompasses books on personal development, education, human relations, and emotional health, in addition to novels. Although the press and the publishing industry routinely classify his books as self-help literature, Cury rejects this label, preferring instead to describe his work as a platform for disseminating his ideas about how the human mind functions.

Cury is the creator of the Multifocal Intelligence Theory, a personal framework that addresses the construction of thoughts, the formation of the self, memory, and the regulation of emotions. While the scientific validity of his theory has been questioned by fellow psychiatrists, his commercial success has established him as one of Brazil's most widely read authors in the early twenty-first century. In 2017, Forbes reported that Cury was the country's most widely read author, with 30 million copies sold.

In 2026, Augusto Cury joined the Avante party and officially launched his presidential candidacy for that year's elections, with former Federal Deputy for Minas Gerais Júlio Delgado as his running mate.

Biography and career Augusto Jorge Cury was born in Colina, in the state of São Paulo, on October 2, 1958, the son of farmer and lawyer Salomão Jorge Cury, a former city councilman in Colina, and Ana Regina Brait Cury. In a profile published by Trip magazine in 2010, Cury recounted that he grew up in a family of relatively modest means, with five siblings; his father worked as a lawyer, while his mother was a homemaker. The same profile described academic difficulties he faced during part of his childhood and adolescence.

He enrolled in the medical program at the Faculty of Medicine of São José do Rio Preto. In interviews, he has stated that he faced a period of psychological distress during his undergraduate studies—an experience he later connected to his interest in examining emotions and thought patterns. He graduated in Medicine in 1984 and subsequently practiced psychiatry and psychotherapy. In an interview published by the Regional Council of Medicine of the State of São Paulo in 2018, he stated that he had not regularly engaged in clinical practice for approximately a decade, dedicating himself instead primarily to literary production, lectures, and educational projects.

In 2013, Cury completed a doctorate in Multifocal Psychology conferred by Florida Christian University, with a thesis entitled Freemind Program as a Global Tool for the Prevention of Mental Disorders. According to biographical material associated with the author, he also undertook postgraduate studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo.

Over decades of psychiatric practice, Cury developed his Multifocal Intelligence framework, eventually making his literary debut in the late 1990s with Multifocal Intelligence after facing numerous editorial rejections. His commercial success escalated steadily: from 11 million copies in 2010 to 27 million in Brazil alone by 2016, and surpassing 30 million by 2017, when Forbes named him the country's top-selling author of the century, with over 50 books published in more than 70 countries. His works have been issued by Planeta (which incorporated the Academia imprint for his titles in 2006), Sextante, and HarperCollins. When Paulo Coelho publicly challenged him to verify his sales figures, Cury declined, remarking that competing for rankings reflects a society unduly fixated on fame.

Multifocal Intelligence Theory Cury's Multifocal Intelligence Theory proposes that thought results not only from conscious will, but also from automatic mechanisms of memory and emotion, with the self exercising a normative function to manage these processes—a function which, in his practical books, takes the form of the D.C.D. technique ("Doubt, Criticize, and Determine"). Although his works enjoy vast circulation, the theory lacks established scientific recognition; in 2026, psychiatrists interviewed by Folha de S.Paulo stated they were unaware of any validation for the model and did not employ it in clinical practice. Cury rebutted the criticisms, arguing that his concepts have been applied in educational contexts and that his theory's development outside traditional psychiatric currents does not justify its dismissal, though critics point to the absence of publications in peer-reviewed journals and replicable methodology.

Political career Prior to running for office, Cury had a brief affiliation with the Green Party, which he joined in 2009—the same period in which Marina Silva also entered the party. According to a profile published by Trip, his name was considered for candidacies to the Senate or state governorship, though he ultimately did not run in the 2010 elections; during that time, he collaborated on discussions related to education within Marina Silva's pre‑campaign. Two days later, Cury announced former Federal Deputy Júlio Delgado of Minas Gerais, also affiliated with Avante, as his running mate.