What is anxiety?

In this episode I share an experience with a patient who did not know what anxiety was. He had been asked many times in his health journey if he experienced anxiety, and always answered no. No one ever took the time to ask him if he understood what it meant to experience anxiety. He suffered, and no one knew, because of a disconnect in language and communication. This man was a military veteran and over 60 years old. He was being treated for substance misuse and addiction fueled by anxiety, but he did not have the words to explain that to his health team until it was made plain to him what it meant to feel anxiety.