Let us check these facts…

Among drug addiction treatment advertisements, the most promising statements about the effectiveness of treatment belongs to Nazaraliev Medical Center, a private drug addiction rehab centre which operates in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek city, since 1991.

The clinic’s website and in their advertising messages it is stated that 87% of patients recover and never return to drugs. Is this true or just a tricky marketing ploy?

Let’s find out

How treatment effectiveness of this particular drug addiction treatment centre and other rehabs, is evaluated in narcology?

First of all, it should be clarified how doctors measure the effectiveness of a particular treatment method in narcology. As a rule, an elementary approach of statistical accounting is used for this measurement. Doctors collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data on the state of health of patients who underwent rehabilitation in particular drug addiction treatment centre.

This is done by in-person or remote monitoring. Throughout the whole year, patient's condition is monitored by a doctor. Depending on the circumstances, medical monitoring is carried out either:

• at a scheduled appointment with your doctor or
• by phone and other available means of communication.

The standard questionnaire includes the following:

• attitude towards drugs or alcohol;
• proximity to relapse, the presence of obsessive thoughts about drugs or alcohol;
• general health and emotional state;
• successes in socialization and adaptation after treatment;
• employment activity;
• quality of life in general.

Based on the collected information, doctors draw up a portrait of the rehabilitant and evaluate his overall condition.

In order for statistics on the method to be convincing, it is necessary to cover up at least 1000 patients. Valid statistics cannot be based on 10 evaluated cases for any drug addiction treatment center. It takes years of hard work and observation to evaluate a large number of patients in order to be able to provide official statistical data for a specific drug addiction rehab centre and its method. On this amount of information, the final result of medical procedures is better visible, and patterns, including side effects, are more clearly shown.

Only after that, statisticians summarize the data and express key indicators as a percentage of the number of cases considered. At the same time, it is customary to understand the effectiveness of complete remission (that is, the disappearance of the symptoms of the disease) within 1 year after discharge from the medical institution.

So, for example, the effectiveness of the State drug addiction rehab center does not exceed 10-15%. Roughly speaking, out of 1 thousand patients, only 100-150 people quit alcohol or drugs after treatment.

What Nazaraliev’s clinic is stating?

Let us pay a close attention to declared number of 17 thousand patients who went through drug addiction treatment centre using Nazaraliev's method. All of them received medical care in one and only clinic, which, (since the method is not replicated and is not used anywhere else as stated in the advertisement), has been operating since 1991.

If we set ourselves a goal of calculating how many patients, with an average treatment duration of 30 days, had this drug addiction rehab center rehabilitated on monthly bases for the past 29 years, then we get a figure of 48,89 almost 49 patients per month.

A large flow of patients, in theory, should guarantee a large amount of data for statistically significant conclusions. Therefore, Nazaraliev Medical Center cannot be blamed for drawing conclusions on effectiveness by treating, conditionally, one hundred patients.

However, further questions arise: how is the "magic" figure 87% appeared?

If you delve into the website of this drug addiction rehab centre, you can find the following information:

"92% of patients with alcoholism and 82% of patients with drug addiction are cured in this clinic." Consequently, the average success rate will be 87%.

Let us look at the actual number of patients who underwent alcohol and drug addiction treatment at Nazaraliev Medical Center.

87% of 17 thousand - is a total of 14,790 successfully treated patients! This is a very solid indicator and, indeed, a great achievement.

Is there an alternative point of view on the effectiveness of this method?

On the Internet, you can easily find an extract from the protocol of the joint meeting of the Scientific Council on Narcology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Scientific Council of Narcology of Russia, dated July 7, 2011, which examined the Nazaraliev method from a scientific and medical point of view.

In an external audit of the Nazaraliev method, before recommending it for widespread use, 52 members of the Council came to the conclusion that treatment of patients with alcoholism and drug addiction using a complex of medical and psychotherapeutic methods ensured a high percentage of remission (62.3%). At the same time, a systematic approach allowed to reduce the manifestations of mental, physical, somatic and somatoform symptoms (92.7%).

Research study conducted by the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the National Scientific Center for Narcology, demonstrated that 92.7% of Nazaraliev's patients after completing treatment at this drug addiction rehab center go home absolutely healthy, and only 62.3% remain in remission for a year. These are absolutely excellent indicators. In fact, these indicators are clearly lower than declared by the clinic itself.

Who can we trust at the end?

The discrepancy in data provided by Nazaraliev Medical Center and the data collected by the Russian Medical Academy and National Scientific Center for Narcology, may occur due to the limited study time and relatively small amount of information from independent scientists.

Statistics provided by Nazaraliev’s Medical Center are systematic and more recent - 2019, while study of the Russian Medical Academy and National Scientific Center for Narcology on Nazaraliev’s method was carried out in 2011 and, possibly, reflected the state of affairs at that time.

It can be assumed that in 8 years the quality of treatment has increased, and the number of patients with strong remission has increased from 62.3% to 87% which seems to be incredible.

Meanwhile, back in 2012-2013, Nazaraliev Medical Center launched a documentary series Doctor Life. 8 drug addicted patients, with an experience of using alcohol and drugs for more than 10 years, were treated in this drug addiction treatment centre. The project participants underwent drug addiction treatment in the fall of 2012. A year later, out of eight patients, only one participant from Moscow, Irina, relapsed. The clinic announced about it to the viewers in the final series.

If we take 8 as 100%, then 7 participants who were in remission for the whole next year will equal to notorious 87.5%. Of course, 8 people is a small number for collecting data, however; this fact can serve as wonderful argument in favor of this drug addiction rehab centre.

Summarizing, we can say that scattered information about the effectiveness of Nazaraliev method somewhat confuses an attentive researcher. It is fair to admit that the Nazaraliev method, is one of the most effective and efficient methods for alcohol and drug addiction treatment.

If you still have questions regarding your rehabilitation in this drug addiction treatment centre, you can contact the specialists of MCN directly.

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