University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Psychiatric Medicine
(205) 975-8494
www.main.uab.edu
1713 6th Avenue South
Birmingham AL 35294

Rehabilitation Services

Primary Focus: Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Detoxification, Buprenorphine Services
Type of Care: Hospital inpatient, Residential short-term treatment (30 days or less), Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment

Natural Oils

Natural oils contain hundreds of organic constituents such as hormones, vitamins and other natural elements that are beneficial to the skin. Natural oils fall into two general categories: essential oils and carrier or base oils. Essential oils are volatile compounds found in plants. They give fruits, flowers, herbs and spices their fragrance and flavor. Obtained by distillation or expression, essential oils are highly concentrated and used at a very low concentration. Carrier oils, such as almond, sunflower, olive, walnut and other oils exist in higher concentration in cosmetics and when applied directly to the skin nourish, soften and protect it. Diluting essential oils makes them good bases. Oils are highly penetrating. They easily enter through a cell wall delivering essential vitamins, oxygen and nutrients. This helps stimulate cell metabolism and the regeneration process. The ability of oils to penetrate and carry nutrients through the cell wall to the cell nucleus can prevent cell deterioration, which can lead to infections and diseases.

Other Complementary Medicine Practices

Complementary medicine also encompasses movement therapies, which include Eastern and Western movement approaches used to promote physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Examples of movement therapies include Feldenkrais method, Alexander technique, Pilates, Rolfing Structural Integration and Trager psychophysical integration. According to the 2007 NHIS, 1.5 percent of adults and 0.4 percent of children used movement therapies.
Practices of traditional healers are a form of complementary medicine. Traditional healers use methods based on indigenous theories, beliefs and experiences handed down from generation to generation. A familiar example in the United States is the Native American healer or medicine man. The 2007 NHIS found that 0.4 percent of adults and 1.1 percent of children had used a traditional healer usage varied for the seven specific types of healers identified in the survey.
Some complementary medicine practices involve manipulation of various energy fields to affect health. Experts sometimes categorize such fields as veritable (measurable) or putative (yet to be measured). Practices based on veritable forms of energy include those involving electromagnetic fields like magnet therapy and light therapy. Practices based on putative energy fields, which experts also call bio-fields, generally reflect the concept that human beings are infused with subtle forms of energy; qi gong, Reiki and healing touch are examples of such practices. The 2007 NHIS found relatively low use of putative energy therapies. Only 0.5 percent of adults and 0.2 percent of children had used energy healing/Reiki the survey defined energy healing as the channeling of healing energy through the hands of a practitioner into the body of the client.
Finally, experts also consider entire medical systems, which are complete systems of theory and practice that have evolved over time in different cultures and exist apart from conventional or Western medicine, complementary medicine. Examples of ancient entire medical systems include Ayurvedic medicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Other modern systems that have developed in the past few centuries include homeopathy and naturopathy. In 2007, the NHIS asked about the use of Ayurveda, homeopathy and naturopathy. Although relatively few respondents said they had used Ayurveda or naturopathy, homeopathy ranked tenth in usage among adults 1.8 percent and fifth among children 1.3 percent.