PubMedDate not supplied
The uncompromising struggle against drunkenness and alcoholism can be successful provided that not only social but also biomedical nature of the phenomenon is adequately understood. It is important to note that alcoholism is the most widespread type of drug addiction which results in the mental dependence on the induced euphoria state and deceptive anti-stress effect. In fact, alcohol, even in low doses, causes erroneous assessment of current events, impairment of the performance level and degradation of normal relationships with other people. Euphoria which is subjectively perceived as a happy sensation develops as a result of the narcotic effect of alcohol on the central nervous system, atrophic degeneration of neurons in the dorso-lateral part of the frontal compartment and subsequent development of destructive processes in other brain compartments. The development of the domineering pathological need for alcohol invariably leads to changes in the scope and pattern of normal activities. It is however obvious that man's activities the purpose of which is to satisfy material and intellectual requirements act as a source of strong and natural emotions. As follows from the experience accumulated by American and Canadian airlines, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholic pilots should be based on modern concepts about the mechanisms underlying the development of stable pathological systems and their elimination by producing stable functional-antagonistic antisystems.