Abstract

Starting from results of an introductory study on self percepted continuities and discontinuities in the passage from abstension to addiction and from addiction to remission in a small sample of addicts, authors present a cross-sectional exploratory study that enquires self-representation through ten free answers to the question "Who am I?". This study was carried on a sample of 224 heroin addicts (in three different treatment stages) and on a sample of 71 non addicts. Results show many differences in the subjects' groups references to private, public, present and past self and in the connection of self perceptive contents; they also show that in the case of heroin addicts the first year of treatment is crucial for a new definition of self.