Caller: 27-year old man calling on behalf of his friend
Problem: Prescription pain medication
Seeking: Intervention for pain medication addiction
Reason(s): The man is concerned that his friend is slowly but surely starting to transition from ‘abuser’ to ‘addicted.’ He is worried that his friend was abusing prescription pain medication in order to dull his senses if something was not going right for him, but he has now come to ‘need’ it instead of just ‘wanting it’. He said, “I do not know how to describe it, it is just something that you feel I suppose. I have known him for ages and he has been dealing with this stuff for a while now. He would abuse it, make no mistake about it, but now it is as though he can’t do without it.” He said that he does not know how to address the issue and would like to know if there is any way that a professional interventionist might provide some initial information and then come sit in during an actual intervention. He said, “We need to make sure that we do this right, that he does not feel attacked and that there is an actual solution to the problem if he does agree to seek help.