Does "he has some issues to work out" have some special meaning?

Does "he has some issues to work out" have some special meaning?

Is it an idiom? How is its meaning different from "he has some problems to solve"?

Solution 1:

There's a particular implication of the "issues" or "problems" involved being mental or emotional ones. It's more closely equivalent to "he's a little neurotic" than "he has some problems to solve".

Solution 2:

Yes it is an idiom. Polite way to say he is unstable and needs to see a psychiatrist or at least get a grip :)

Solution 3:

Yes, "he has issues" would imply mental or emotional instability. Extending "instability" from an individual's mental state to the nation's financial state, a business publication referred to the recent wave of American bank failures as "American issues." But perhaps that's such a bad usage that it doesn't deserve notice.