"issues" meaning problems

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 11/21/06, Nathan Bierma <nbierm65 at calvin.edu> wrote:
>
> Can anyone antedate, or shed more light on, the association of "issues" with
> "psychological problems"?
> (I'm not sure how to search ASD-L for this particular meaning; a simple word
> search will yield a flood of irrelevancies, I fear ...)
>
> OED (added 2003 ):
>     issue, n.
>   In pl. orig. and chiefly U.S. Emotional or psychological difficulties (freq.
> with modifying word); points of emotional conflict.
> 1982N.Y. Times 8 Dec. C10/6 The more difficult aspect can come after alcohol
> is removed. Then it becomes how do you deal with the emotions and intimacy
> issues that were largely dealt with previously through alcohol? [...]

  New York Times, Sept. 20, 1976, p. 36, col. 6
  "Counseling was fine, to a point," he said in an interview. It would
  help the couple resolve the issues they faced at the time, but then a
  new issue would come along later and they didn't know how to resolve it
  any better than if they'd never had therapy. They hadn't learned the
  skills to solve issues on their own."


--Ben Zimmer

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org