Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Being There
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.komisar.com/
CITY: New York
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born c. 1964.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Psychoanalyst. Has a private practice. Runs psychology workshops; has appeared on national television.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Erica Komisar is an American psychoanalyst. She has created a series of workshops to aid parents in raising emotionally healthy children and learning to make themselves as emotionally and physically available to their kids as possible. In her practice, Komisar works largely with individuals suffering from depression and anxiety, eating and other compulsive disorders.
Komisar published Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters in 2017 with Sydny Miner. The account pushes the importance for mothers to be physically and emotionally present with their babies in the first three years of their development. The book explains the physical ways the infant develops during this time, including talking, crawling, and walking. It then shows the emotional ways infants develop in the first three years, such as by dealing with separation, frustration, and anxiety. Komisar and Miner assert that a mother’s presence during this period will increase the baby’s emotional intelligence, pick up quicker on social cues, and be able to connect more intimately with others. While the authors highlight the case for mothers staying at home with their young children, they also offer tips for those who continue to work. The book discusses issues with putting children in day care and the drawbacks to not having a mother physically or emotionally present in those earlier developmental years.
In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Komisar talked with James Taranto about her motivations for writing this book. She explained that through her work, she spent a great deal of time helping families with problems with their children, observing: “What I was seeing was an increase in children being diagnosed with ADHD and an increase in aggression in children, particularly in little boys, and an increase in depression in little girls.” She recalled that many children who had been diagnosed with social disorders were “having difficulty relating to other children, having difficulty with empathy.” Komisar noted that as she “started to put the pieces together,” she reasoned that “the absence of mothers in children’s lives on a daily basis was what I saw to be one of the triggers for these mental disorders.”
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews said that the book is “solid research and easy-to-follow advice about how to recognize ‘the essential role of mothers in the lives of their children and mak[e] it easier for women to be there when it matters most.’” A Publishers Weekly contributor reasoned that “despite Komisar’s well-intentioned tone, her perspective is ultimately dispiriting.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2017, review of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters.
Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2017, review of Being There, p. 58.
Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2017, James Taranto, “The Politicization of Motherhood.”
ONLINE
Erica Komisar Website, http://www.komisar.com (November 7, 2017).*
Komisar, Erica: BEING THERE
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Komisar, Erica BEING THERE Tarcher/Penguin (Adult Nonfiction) $26.00 4, 11 ISBN: 978-0-14-310929-7
Why it is so critical to be present in your child's early life.Using current research, statistical evidence, and material
from her work as a therapist and social worker, Komisar pulls together a cohesive argument about the importance of
being physically and emotionally present during your child's first three years. During this time, a child is developing in
numerous ways: physically achieving the goals of crawling, walking, talking, etc. and the emotional skills needed to
cope with frustration, anxiety, separation, and other feelings. "Spending more time with your child during this critical
period of development means she will have a greater chance of being emotionally secure and resilient to stress," writes
the author, "as well as being better able to regulate her emotions throughout life, read others' social cues, achieve a
higher emotional intelligence, and connect with others intimately." Komisar offers practical advice for mothers who
must work, whether full- or part-time, offers suggestions for those who complain of being "bored" when they stay at
home with a young child, and encourages mothers, fathers, and other caregivers to take the time to be fully present
with the child. This means putting away the cellphone or computer and focusing on the child, getting down to her level
to play, read, sing, and interact. The author also provides lists of important questions to ask before placing a child in
day care, thoroughly explains the damage done to a child when a mother is absent, and considers why society doesn't
place a higher value on the act of parenting. Komisar's information is common-sensical, but because American society
has moved so far away from accepting mothering as a crucial job, it's quite welcome. As she notes, the health and wellbeing
of our children should be first and foremost in every parent's life. Solid research and easy-to-follow advice about
how to recognize "the essential role of mothers in the lives of their children and mak[e] it easier for women to be there
when it matters most."
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Komisar, Erica: BEING THERE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479234414&it=r&asid=8ff1d9826636ed354dff9e82c6ad9127.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479234414
10/22/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508693573649 2/2
Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in
the First Three Years Matters
Publishers Weekly.
264.10 (Mar. 6, 2017): p58.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters
Erica Komisar, with Sydny Miner.
TarcherPerigee, $26 (288p) ISBN 978-0-14-310929-7
Amid a landslide of literature examining the culture of the needlessly overworked, overstressed, and overwhelmingly
busy mom, Komisar makes a different claim here: mothers aren't doing enough for their children. Drawing from her
practice as a psychoanalyst in New York City, Komisar makes the case that the mother is primarily and uniquely
responsible for a baby's development, and a lack of the mother's responsive, nurturing presence in the early years can
contribute strongly to all manner of behavioral and developmental problems. Komisar offers sound, warm guidance for
baby interaction in an attempt to draw ambivalent mothers back into the home and gives several examples from her
practice in which increased maternal involvement solved behavioral problems. Though she acknowledges the role of
fathers and the burden on single mothers, Komisar regretfully concludes that children raised without the frequent
presence of a mother are likely to grow up with serious problems. Despite Komisar's well-intentioned tone, her
perspective is ultimately dispiriting, since there is little indication that the near future will bring about the legislation
for paid leave that would help all families to afford her ideal. Agent: Jane von Mehren, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth.
(Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters." Publishers Weekly, 6 Mar. 2017, p. 58.
General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA484973706&it=r&asid=e4b81ee4e45d3f73d555880e63ca9c33.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A484973706