The role of scientists in the Department of Psychiatry at the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy in the development of domestic narcology and pharmacological methods of treating this pathology

The study covers the history of the formation and development of narcology in the Russian Empire and the USSR. The role of the heads and psychiatrists in the Department of Psychiatry and the Clinic of Mental and Nervous Diseases at the S.M. Kirov Military Medical Academy in the fight against alcoholism in the country and the organization of drug treatment was identified. Particular emphasis was laid on the work of Vladimir M. Bekhterev, a prominent Russian and Soviet psychiatrist, neuropathologist, physiologist and psychologist, the founder of reflexology and pathopsychological direction in Russia. It was V.M. Bekhterev who did everything to reverse public views on alcoholism and transfer it from the category of moral turpitude to the status of the disease; he organized the research and treatment for alcoholic patients. This paper considers the aspects of scientific development of narcological issues by the staff and heads of the departments. The priority of domestic psychiatrists in the theoretical justification and practical application of conditioned reflex therapy for alcoholism has been shown.