Truth Be Told: A Memoir of Success, Suicide, and Survival

by Lucinda Bassett

“Suicide haunts you as something to hide, something to be ashamed of, something that keeps reminding you that your family is damaged, scarred . . . It's a dark, ugly secret that you don't want to share.” From bestselling author and self-help guru Lucinda Bassett, comes an intimate and empowering memoir. A few years ago, Bassett's husband and business partner, David, committed suicide after an agonizing year's struggle with mental illness. Lucinda and her children were devastated. Unbelievably, within just a few months of his death, she lost her brother, and then her mother. And to add to the overwhelming anguish she was already experiencing, Lucinda was then forced to sell her business during an economic downturn. In this gripping account, Bassett digs deep inside herself to uncover the patterns of guilt, blame, anger, and shame she experienced throughout her life, and how they resurfaced and related to these horrific and painful recent tragedies. Her remarkable story is one of complete and candid intimacy, personal introspection, courage, pain, perseverance, and, ultimately, healing. 

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2013

About the author

Lucinda Bassett: Guiding you through personal transformation

For millions of people worldwide, Lucinda Bassett is a symbol of hope and strength. She has dedicated her career to helping others achieve personal transformation; guiding people through fear, challenge, change, and loss to a life of happiness and fulfillment. Lucinda’s own story of personal transformation starts with overcoming a debilitating anxiety disorder. Severely affected by anxiety and depression in her 20’s, she discovered the solution to her emotional pain and distress. Determined to help others do the same, she founded the acclaimed Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety with Dr. Philip Fisher.

Lucinda’s life-changing techniques have been shared with a variety of major corporations, professional associations and educational institutions. She has appeared on hundreds of national radio and television programs including Oprah, The View, Regis and Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power. Lucinda and her emotional wellness solutions have been featured in numerous high-profile publications including Health, Family Circle, Cosmopolitan and even the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Lucinda is the author of the National Bestseller From Panic to Power where she provides an intimate, first person account of her struggle and triumph over anxiety and depression. In her second book, Life Without Limits, Lucinda shares her techniques for unleashing the power within to achieve your dreams.

Her latest wellness project is scheduled for release in January 2011. The Solution will empower readers worldwide with the secret for transforming the tremendous energy of worry into lifelong personal and financial security.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional Memoir

I've read a lot of memoirs. Often, they will have as the major focus one or two big problems the author has lived through or overcome such as, for example, being abused in childhood and then perhaps marrying an abuser unknowingly. Then there is often a period of upheaval as an adult, perhaps a triggering of old memories related to earlier abuse, deciding to get help and then some success and resolution. If you're looking for that in THIS memoir, you're looking in the wrong place. Also, it's very difficult to achieve a tidy resolution with someone who is no longer alive by their own hand!
This memoir is different just as Lucinda Bassett is different from who she was as a child "Cindy" Redick. It is different in that Cindy/Lucinda didn't have just a few minor obstacles or even just a few major ones to overcome. She had many! In these pages you will read of alcoholism, a large family who struggled financially and had some feelings of inferiority, sexual abuse, a woman with a strong work ethic and determination who tries on several different types of jobs including as a vocalist, a lover of travel, mental health issues such as anxiety and panic attacks, entrepreneurship, a woman who went from feeling like she was from the "wrong side of the tracks" to a woman who not only made her own set of new tracks but discovered that she could "drive the train!" You will read about love, parenting, relentless losses and the grief and devastation that followed before Lucinda rises, and discovers more healing and growth.
I couldn't put this book down and found myself several times wishing I could call Lucinda Bassett and talk to her. Firstly to express my deepest sympathy for her losses and then to congratulate her on this wonderful book. And lastly because she sounds like she would be a wonderful friend!
Highly recommend this book!

[Lynn Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have received a free copy of this book through a GoodReads First Reads giveaway.
Wow. This book has hit home for me in so many ways. I've been thinking long and hard about writing a review. Should I write as someone who enjoys reading, or someone who was profoundly affected by this book? I certainly am not comfortable with sharing such personal information with just anyone, but I do feel it's important enough to mention, just not in too much detail.
Whether you can relate or not, Lucinda Bassett is one inspiring woman! Despite all the hurdles thrown her way, any one of which could send anyone careening off the edge of sanity, she has taken the blows again and again, and come out on top.
Deeply moving, but a touch of humor keeps her grounded. Looking forward to reading more by her.

[Sheila C Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what was anticipated.

The author surely lived through some difficult times; I am so sorry for her losses. However, the book did not engender in me a feeling of compatibility or emotional connection. Actually, with all the trauma that was presented, I still felt a bit cool toward her. Perhaps it was an editing failure but mostly I feel this troubled person has not yet found an emotional sense of well-being. It showed, and made reading this not satisfying.

[Thomas Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great story, a memoir, of an over-comer. Lucinda Redick-Bassett had a rough childhood, with a working mother and bread winner, and an alcoholic father. What she saw and heard from day to day left her with acute anxiety and depression, and irritable bowell issues. As she learned to cope she developed methods and techniques to combat her negative thoughts that led to the destructive emotions. When she was older she started to read books from psychiatrists on anxiety and depression which gave her more medical insight into the emotional disorders. She used what she read, coupled with what she already did to get a handle on all her issues. One thing led to another and she met a family doctor who was interested in how she had overcome her A&D, and he tasked her into running group therapy sessions to teach her techniques. This turned into radio call in shows, Oprah appearances, infomercials selling a self-help course, speaking & teaching seminars, and a multi million dollar business called "The Midwest Center for Anxiety and Depression." Through all that success there was always tragedy, but nothing like what happened to her on June 6, 2008. Her love of her life for 25 years committed suicide. Here the queen of self help for anxiety and depression has a husband who kills himself. The creeps on the internet immediately called her course a scam and hurt her business, but those of us her course helped, know the creeps on the internet are just blatant liars. She now has to overcome this tragedy along with her son's Tourette Syndrome. She did It with Jesus and the Heavenly Fathers help plus the techniques and methods she developed for coping with suicide. This remarkable lady can really tell a story.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible account of grief, loss, surrender and survival. This book could have been significantly longer with all the heart-wrenching events that occurred in Lucinda’s life. She is an incredible writer and an inspiration for being real and truthful about loss.

[Lori G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart on a Platter

An intimate look at the joys and warts of life. A great reminder to appreciate what we have and how we are all interdependent. For someone who did not take the traditional writer’s route of a college major, it is written like a pro.

[Madelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Truthful, painful, poignant, uplifting, most of all the power of being resilient and relying on many, many people including God.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book on First Reads. This is a very moving account of the author's difficult childhood,her dogged determination to succeed in life, her happy marriage which ended in the tragic suicide of her spouse, and her struggle to deal with all that life has thrown at her. Frequently sad, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny,always captivating, this is a memoir full of heart,emotion & honesty. My one gripe with this book is the 4 paragraphs of untranslated Latin opposite the photo pages. Nowhere is it referenced,cited,or even mentioned. Why put something in a book if you don't intend on letting others in on what it means? Other than that, very well done by a very brave lady!

[Neeka27 · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were times when the author's writing style is a little too "yay for me" and others when it sounded a bit like a tween's journal entries but overall an interesting story of her life. The parts of the book dealing with her husband's suicide were heartbreaking. I can't imagine the pain she felt for herself & her children left to pick up the pieces.

[Kristin De flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice memoir of the realities of some mental illness and how it affects the self and others around you. Truth Be Told is a book that tells the behind the scene of what people don't see. Its a reminder to people to always be kind because you never know what the other person might be going through.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

i would never have been able to face the hardships that she has made

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway.

Her story is remarkable and heartbreaking.

[Darla Buchwalter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucinda Bassett is truly an inspiration. This memoire is one of the best I've ever read.

[Sam Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was incredibly difficult too read and yet so good, because I read most of it in one day!