When the non‐sharing of therapeutic goals becomes the problem: The story of a consumer and his addiction to methadone

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? It is well known that psychotropic drugs, besides having beneficial effects, may become a source of addiction. Drug therapy involving methadone is traditionally considered an essential medicine in the treatment for heroin dependence since it significantly reduces drug injecting and death rates associated with opioid dependence. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE? This paper investigates a paradoxical situation: the use of methadone therapy to maintain a condition of addiction rather than to overcome it. The story is told jointly by the head of a rehab centre and a young man who has developed a methadone addiction and kept it hidden for years from the operators of the addiction centre, who supplied him with the substance. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MENTAL‐HEALTH NURSING? The young man's story offers a key example which can be of interest not only for addiction centres but also for all mental‐health services that supply drugs as therapy. This study examines what happens when a person taken over by a service pursues goals that are in contrast to the service mission. Specific communication strategies have to be implemented to update and negotiate goals in continuity with the personal live project of the service user. This story is a warning to not rely on consolidated operational practices, ignoring the investigation of personal meanings and aims of those who experience them. ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Mental health services typically follow standardized intervention protocols and systematic operating practices. AIM/QUESTION: This paper explores what happens when a service relies exclusively on fixed practices rather than on the negotiation of objectives and the differentiation of procedures according to the needs of the user. METHOD: The analysis of the narratives produced in first person by Oliver, a former substance user, emphasizes the need of constructing a therapeutic plan in close cooperation, promoting an user active role and strengthening his affiliation in the change process. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: In this specific case, the involvement of the user meant the identification of the peculiar meanings he attributed to the “substance of use,” which paradoxically coincided with the “therapeutic substance” (methadone). IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Oliver's story is an effective mirror for rethinking staff conduct when it assumes that the drug is therapeutic in itself, regardless of the way the person experiences and means it, it also offers a description of the interactive ways in which the relationship between a young person and service staff proved to be effectively therapeutic.