The head of the department of drug addiction and substance abuse at the Russian National Research Medical University INOPR told socialbites.ca that the treatment strategy used today for alcoholics is ineffective. NI Pirogov, psychiatrist-narcologist Lev Blagov.
“Traditional narcology assumes that intoxication must be treated, that is, it is necessary to influence the phenomenon of drinking. In clinical terms, this is not even a cure, just a corrective effect. This is not enough,” explained the expert.
Methods such as detoxification (“detoxification”) and motivational speaking to alcoholics are popular today, but they are often meaningless.
“You can’t catch the plane with a net while it’s taking off, you have to shoot it while it’s taking off. You can also observe a widespread passion for detoxification (“detoxification”), which for some reason seems like a full-fledged treatment. There is a study about the result, but not about the cause. In clinical addiction science (the science of addictive human behavior) we say that intoxication is merely a symptom of a disease. “Metaphorically speaking, a person is not sick because he drinks, he drinks because he is sick,” said the narcologist.
Treatment needs to look different, he said. First you need to bring the person into clinical remission, then apply supportive and anti-relapse treatment: You need to create a “protective shell” with the help of pharmacology and psychotherapy.
“The third stage is reparative treatment. This is the basis for subsequent psychological rehabilitation and social adaptation with the aim of integrating the patient into society. But all this requires serious scientific and practical study. A “Clinical Institute of Addiction” needs to be opened in Russia. “This is the first and important step in organizing an innovative scientific and practical complex,” Blagov concluded.
Previously expert explainedWhy treatment of alcoholics in the initial stages should be mandatory.