Short term residential programs provide intensive and brief treatment based on a modified 12-step approach. Originally, addiction specialists designed these programs to treat alcoholics with addiction problems, but during the cocaine epidemic of the mid 1980s, many residential treatment programs began to address other types of substance abuse disorders. The original residential treatment model consisted of a three to six week hospital stay for inpatient treatment, followed by extended outpatient therapy and participation in a self help group, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Following stays in residential treatment programs, individuals should remain engaged in outpatient treatment programs and or aftercare programs. These programs help to reduce the risk of relapse once a patient leaves the residential setting.

Natural Skin Care

Natural skin care is the care of the skin (the largest organ of the body) using naturally derived ingredients (such as herbs, roots, and flowers) combined with naturally occurring carrier agents (everything from natural soap to oils to pure water). Many people with sensitive skin turn to natural skin care solutions. Many people use natural skin care recipes to care for their skin at home. Many spas and skin care salons now focus on using more naturally derived skin care products. There is, however, no actual definition of "natural." All ingredients are chemicals by definition. "Derived" ingredients are "unnatural," according to both their original substance and the method of derivation. The term "natural" has considerable market value when promoting cosmetic products to consumers, but dermatologists say it has very little medical meaning.

West Hollywood Plastic Surgery is the home of talented surgeons. The great nearby medical facilities and entertainment industry make West Hollywood the home of many successful plastic surgeons. The most common plastic surgery procedures are liposuction and augmentation, however plastic surgeons regularly correct cleft lips and palates in children who would otherwise not be able to eat or speak properly. West Hollywood Plastic Surgery West Hollywood Surgery is the home of talented surgeons. The great nearby medical facilities and entertainment industry make West Hollywood the home of many successful surgeons. Surgeons reconstruct faces and limbs after severe trauma and can use one part of the body to restore another body part affected by cancer. West Hollywood Surgery

Drugs, Pick Your Pleasure

People use drugs for a variety of reasons. Drugs can affect the brain with very different results. Psychoactive drugs affect the function of the brain resulting in changes of perception, mood, consciousness, cognition and behavior.
While medication is prescriptive, people also often use psychoactive substances recreationally or for advantage, due to an often-euphoric nature and the capacity of some substances to increase alertness.
There are three main categories of psychoactive drugs.

Stimulants

Stimulants, sometimes called uppers, act to rejuvenate, energize and to alert, without dramatically affecting perception. Examples of stimulants are: coffee, nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine and ecstasy, among others.

Depressants

Depressants, sometimes called downers, chill a person out, reduce anxiety and sedate the user. Depressants consist of sedatives, hypnotics and narcotics. Examples of depressants are alcohol, nitrous oxide, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and opioids.

Opioids

Common opioids are morphine, heroin, codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone and methadone.
Hallucinogens consist of psychedelics, dissociative- and delirium-inducting substances. These drugs produce distinct subjective alterations of perception, sense of space and time, consciousness and mood. Examples of psychedelics are LSD, mushrooms and cannabis.

Pain Management

Most people use psychoactive drugs to manage pain. Analgesics or painkillers, act on the central nervous system and include NSAIDs, like aspirin, ibuprofen and the highly addictive class of opiate narcotics, such as morphine and oxycodone.
The desire and need to alter consciousness is not a recent phenomenon, and dates back to the advent of man. Archaeological evidence indicates that ancestors used plants as psychoactive substances almost ten thousand years ago. Many preindustrial cultures used psychoactive plants such as jimson, mescaline and psilocybin mushrooms for religious rituals.
Many animals also consume psychoactive plant. For example: cat ingesting catnip. Traditional myths contain references of animals introducing sacred plants to humans. The cultural use of psychoactive substances covers a vast historical landscape. Nevertheless, there may also be an evolutionary relationship between animals and psychoactive plants and the existence of these chemicals and receptors within the human nervous system.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoactive_drug