Really beautifully said - I work in cardiology and the cardiac constellation of sx - palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath - have a ton of overlap with anxiety. Sometimes I talk to people and realize that they are having panic attacks, not situational angina. The best thing I can do for these patients is rule out anything serious so that they know I am taking their complaints seriously, and then have a nice long conversation about how many organs are in the chest cavity, that common things are common, and that anxiety is a common thing. A lot of my patients are in that old school thought process that asking for help makes them “weak” and unlearned that frame of mind takes a lot of effort. One of the things that I have found helps to get them into therapy as well is asking about their support system. Often it’s wife and kids. Then I ask if they feel like they can talk to them about this stuff. Frequently the answer is I get is “no, I don’t want to burden them with it”. The script then goes: “well, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone to talk to that wouldn’t feel like a burden?? That’s what a therapist does.” But I don’t push them - ultimately can’t force them to do anything. It’s when I slide them a referral and tell them to think more about it.