A Tiny White Light: A Memoir of a Mind in Crisis - Paperback

by Linda Bass (Author)

From an author with a psychology background, a candid memoir about the interior of her own psychotic episode and its origins in guilt, lost purpose, conflict between mothering and career, and the ambiguity in her relationship with her therapist.

After the culture shock of moving from a small Wisconsin town to the tumult of Los Angeles in 1967, Linda's family disintegrates: her parents decide to divorce, and she and her younger brother, Brian, suddenly must fend for themselves. While she finds a foothold in academic pursuits, Brian spirals downward into schizophrenia and, finally, commits an irrevocable act. Plagued with guilt, Linda loses her sense of purpose, abandons a promising career in psychology, and finds herself in a life she never envisioned--poor, alcoholic, an accidental parent in an unhappy marriage, feeling invisible and alone.

When Linda sees a psychologist, Sam, he helps her recover what she has lost: her sense of self. Feeling truly seen, she falls in love with him and suspects her feelings might be reciprocated. This ambiguity, mingled with other overwhelming stresses, triggers her descent into a psychotic episode--one that echoes her dreams, Brian's experience, and Sam's own phobia.

Will Linda follow in her brother's footsteps, or is this the wake-up call she needed to correct her course?

Author Biography

Linda Bass holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from UCLA and a master's degree in psychology from UC Berkeley. She worked in the workforce development field for thirty years, most recently as the executive director of a regional workforce board in Cambridge, MA. Now retired, she devotes her time to writing, painting, solving puzzles, reading, singing (to herself), enjoying friends and family, and feeling grateful for the life she has now. She currently lives in South Hadley, MA, and is working on a second book.