Modern life is stressful. That certainly seems to be the key message these days judging by the plethora of self-help books and magazine articles that promise to help us relieve the stress in our lives. But what are the causes of this anxiety? With the average American spending the majority of their waking hours at work, it seems to me that the workplace has to be a major contributor to all this stress. And that’s not forgetting all the extra hours we spend getting ourselves to work either, battling traffic jams or the vagaries of public transport — that alone is enough stress for most people! But what is the effect of all this anxiety on our homes and the most important relationships in our lives — those with our partners and children?