Self experience dimensions in the onset of a psychosocial transition: becoming drug free

Aim - Starting from the results of a cross-sectional study on drug addicts and non addicts self representations (Ravenna et al, 1996; Ravenna and Zani, 1996) this study intends verify if the first year of treatment is crucial for a new definition of self. Method - Some dimensions of self experience in a especially demanding life transition (Ruble e Seidman, 1996) - from drug addiction to drug free condition - are longitudinally studied in a sample of heroin addicts. Partecipants, 56 men and 18 women, completed a first questionnaire concerning demographic data. Then, for five times during a two year long program in ten residential Communities, they completed a second kind of questionnaire on spontaneus self representations, time expectations and emotions, psychological well-being and self-esteem. Results- Partecipants, according to their drug related characteristics, were clustered in three groups. Data concerning subjects's self experience at the beginning of treatment strenghthen results of previous studies showing homogenous ambivalent self representations, moderate optimism and tension to personal change.