Stress Free: Take Back Your Life

Lee Baucom, Ph.D., suggests that stress--in purely physiological terms--is identical to fear, producing effects on the human brain similar to those created by anxiety over predators, the dark, etc., and should therefore be treated with the same fear-reduction techniques that experts use, such as breathing exercises. While Baucom's ideas are interesting, his working definition of stress doesn't really address the gnawing anxiety of daily stress related to work, economic pressures, family issues, and so on. True, his methods of treatment might also apply in these cases, but he doesn't make that clear, and the talking-head format, in which Baucom is interviewed by news personality Jackie Hays for 75 minutes is less than optimum. Optional. Aud: P. (T. Keogh)