Sex, Spirit and the Soul of Therapy

Sex, Spirit, and the Soul of Therapy is a memoir of a woman of passion who learned to take charge of her own life by trusting in the power of spirit, against overwhelming odds. Born in Egypt, Therese Yacoub grew up in Australia and struggled with the tensions between two very different cultures, and parents who tore her soul apart. As a young girl, her striking natural beauty charmed everyone around her and she quickly learned to use her charms to her best advantage. Everyone told her she would be a model or a movie star. She believed them, and prepared for a life in the spotlight. However, destiny intervened. When she was 19, Therese's mother succumbed to breast cancer, leaving her to take care of her twin brother and her baby sister. Grief catapulted her into a spiral of depression, so dark that suicide seemed the only way out. However, Therese had an "angel" to save her-a silent voice that reassured her of her own inner power and potential greatness. The road to recovery was long and painful, and she slipped and stumbled many times. Wild parties and alcohol, distractions from her pain, only pushed her deeper into a hell of self-loathing. However, that silent voice kept telling her not to give up, that she was greater than her circumstances. This is her story. In collaboration with Dr. Christian de Quincey, she has written a remarkably open and revealing account of a woman's struggles to find meaning in life. Through 18 years of psychoanalysis, Therese found the courage and the strength to put her world back together, emerging like a butterfly from its chrysalis, reborn. Confident in her own abilities, she healed herself from a potentially fatal illness-despite dire warnings from the medical establishment. The greatest love, she discovered, is the love of self. Today, Therese Yacoub lives with her two children, Jonah and Cairo, in Sydney, where she practices as a psychotherapist. Through her personal development business, Promethian, she coaches others how to live lives aligned with their own passions and deepest values.