Best of Stress Management

Best of Stress Management was a 2004-05 collaboration of well-known experts in the field of mind-body medicine and educational media organizations to address the growing body of medical research that demonstrated chronic stress can be extremely harmful to people and affects up to 70% of illnesses, but that simple exercises can be used to alleviate stress. The group created the Best of Stress Management multimedia course for the public to teach them about stress and how to reduce it.

Content and Method
The Best of Stress Management Kit contains video instruction that teaches the user an overview of stress and its long-term negative effects on the body. The video also demonstrates various scientifically proven relaxation exercises. The Kit also includes 10 CD audio lessons about various aspects of stress and proven mind-body techniques, including meditation, relaxation, guided imagery, biofeedback and others, as well as a written Workbook with the material. Various forms of media were included due to the fact that people learn information in various ways, and the video included significant graphical presentations of the biological processes discussed, making the complex information much easier and fun to learn.

Basis
Best of Stress Management is based on the "Mind-Body Medicine Professional Training Program" taught by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine (the Center), based in Washington, DC. The Center has taught this program to thousands of medical schools, health professionals and individuals around the world since 1994. Currently, the program is being used in New Orleans, throughout the Middle East, with returning veterans from Iraq, and others around the world to help alleviate the symptoms of stress, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) .

Experts Involved
Various experts in the field of mind-body medicine took part in the initiative. James S. Gordon, M.D., the Founder and Director of the Center led most aspects of the video and audio instruction. Susan Lord, M.D., former Director of the Center's professional training programs in nutrition, provided audio lessons. Additionally, Herbert Benson, MD, of Harvard Medical School and the expert who coined the term "relaxation response," provided a video lesson. Additional experts Joan Borysenko, Ph.D.; and guided imagery pioneer Belleruth Naparstek, M.A., L.I.S.W provided audio exercises for the course. MBL Therapeutics and Asgard, media companies in Washington, DC, produced the Kit in collaboration with the medical team and coordinated potential user focus groups to develop the ideal and most useful structure of the product.

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