Resources - Interventions Canada

At Interventions Canada, we have wealth of professional knowledge and experience for the treatment of substance abuse disorders, mental health conditions and behavioral health.

Patricia Pike, our CEO has over 25 years working both in the United States and Canada. Mental health and substance use disorders affect people from all walks of life and all age groups. These illnesses are common, recurrent, and often serious, but they are treatable. Many people do recover.

What is mental health disorder? Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we manage stress, relate to others, and make choices. Serious mental illness is defined by someone (over 18), having a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder that causes serious functional impairment that substantially interferes with, or limits one or more major life activities.

For people under the age of 18, the term “Serious Emotional Disturbance” refers to a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder which causes functional impairment that substantially limits the child’s role in functioning within the family, school, or community activities.

What is substance abuse disorder? Substance use disorder is the medical term used to describe a pattern of using a substance that causes significant problems or distress.

Substance use disorder, as a recognized medical brain disorder, refers to the use of illegal substances, such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or prescription medications. Substance use disorders occur when the recurrent use of alcohol and/or drugs causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, compromised relationships, failure to meet the responsibilities at work, school, or home, and in some cases serious legal issues.

Opioid use disorder, or opioid addiction, is a chronic disease that affects millions of Americans. While heroin addiction has affected many Americans for decades, there has been more attention on the opioid epidemic in recent years due to rise in fentanyl overdose deaths and the widespread access to it. Heroin is an opioid analgesic synthesized from morphine. Morphine occurs naturally in the seeds of the Asian poppy plant. Heroin is 2-4 times stronger than morphine. It appears as a white or brown powder or as a black gummy substance. Illicit heroin contains adulterants and potentially toxic substances used to dilute the drug.

Signs of heroin use include:

Cycles of wakefulness with sudden, momentary dozing
Pinpoint constriction of pupils
Runny nose
Picking at skin, infection at injection sites
Weight loss
Change in behavior such as: withdrawal, isolation, lying, apathy, stealing, hostility, decreased attention to hygiene.
Burned silver spoons, aluminum foil with burn marks, syringes.

There are three approved medications for OUD:

1) Buprenorphine (commonly known by brand-name Suboxone)
2) Methadone
3) Naltrexone

The intoxicating ingredient found in beer, wine and liquor is ethyl alcohol. It is a central nervous system depressant, absorbed rapidly from the stomach and small intestines into the bloodstream. Alcohol affects the brain within 10 minutes after consumption and affects all the body’s organs.

Signs of alcohol use disorder are:

Increased tolerance to alcohols effects
Feelings of anxiety, depression, and irritability when alcohol is not consumed.
Craving alcohol
Shaking when alcohol wears off.
Sweating, headache, nausea and vomiting and insomnia when alcohol wears off.

Craving for alcohol

Last year, over 80,000 Canadian teenagers used prescription drugs for the sole purpose to get high. Even though these may be medications prescribed by doctors, they are highly addictive and can be extremely dangerous when not take as prescribed. Prescription pain relievers include the opioid class of drugs, such as hydrocodone (i.e., Vicodin), oxycodone (i.e., OxyContin), morphine, fentanyl, and codeine. Opioids work by mimicking the body’s natural pain-relieving chemicals, attaching to receptors in the brain to block the perception of pain.
Opioids can produce drowsiness, nausea, constipation, and slow breathing. Opioids also can induce euphoria by affecting the brain regions that mediate what we perceive as pleasure.

Tranquillizers and sedatives are central nervous system depressants, such as Xanax, Valium, and Librium, which are often prescribed to treat anxiety, panic attacks and sleep disorders. Central nervous system depressants, known as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, slow normal
brain function to produce a drowsy or calming effect.

Stimulants such as Ritalin, Adderall and Dexedrine increase alertness, attention and energy and are often prescribed for health conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and depression.

Marijuana use comes with real risks that can impact a person’s life. Especially today as more and more people are dying due to marijuana being laced with other drugs. Marijuana alone taken in large doses can cause acute psychosis, which includes hallucinations, delusions, and a loss of the sense of personal identity. Marijuana also affects brain development. Marijuana is one of the most used, and highly addictive substances, and its use is growing with its legalization in many areas of the world.

Approximately 1 in 10 people who use marijuana will become addicted. When they start before age 18, the rate of addiction rises to 1 in 6.

People who have taken large doses of marijuana may experience an acute psychosis, which includes hallucinations, delusions, and a loss of the sense of personal identity. These unpleasant but temporary reactions are distinct from longer-lasting psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, which may be associated with the use of marijuana in vulnerable individuals.

The following is a screening tool that can help you determine if your loved one has a problem and/or to help your family too with professional help.

If you answer “Yes” to any of the questions, you need to seek professional help:

Are you being held hostage by an untreated person’s addictions and/or behaviors?
Do you feel like your family or friends are also being held, hostage?
Do you feel like you are walking around on eggshells or uncomfortable in your own home, because of your loved one’s addictions and/or behaviors?
Are you lying to your partner, children, friends or others about your loved one’s addiction and/or behaviors?
Are you engaging and debating with your loved one, unaware or fully aware you are enabling your loved one’s addictions and/or behaviors?
Do you give in because you feel beat down by an untreated person’s addictions and/or behaviors? Do you feel like you just cannot deal with the situation and give in, even when you swear to yourself that you will not?
Are you lying to yourself and others to hide their problems or attempt to protect their reputation?
Do you feel like you are keeping your loved one alive by letting them stay at home, and/or use drugs?
Are you being consumed and controlled by your concerns about their safety and wellbeing daily?
Are you staying awake at night or losing sleep worrying about how you are going to help or come up with funds to solve your loved one’s problems?
Do you feel that you are living part of your loved one’s life by involving yourself with buying drugs and alcohol and hiding it from everyone?
Are you seeing a progression in the use of drugs and/or alcohol which is increasing and causing more damage in your loved one’s life?
Are you feeling embarrassed, ashamed, and alone, or trapped in your loved one’s addiction and/or behavior patterns?
Has your loved one been convicted of a crime for drug or alcohol-related issues, or have you put yourself into a risky situation because of your loved one’s lifestyle?
Do you feel abused daily by your loved one’s addictions and/or behaviors?
Are you being truthful with yourself that your loved one has a chronic addiction?
Are there any children negatively impacted by your loved one’s addictions and/or behaviors?

Information on mental health and substance abuse disorders.

The following links are to provide you with additional mental health and addiction information.