Personal experiences of heroin addiction in prison have been often overlooked in research. This study aims to examine the lived experience of former prisoners who experienced heroin addiction during incarceration, with a specific focus on the social and psychological components of the phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with four participants who had been diagnosed with opioid dependence. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four superordinate themes emerged from the analysis. These were: heroin as emotion regulator, relationship with heroin, feelings of isolation and fear, and conceptualisation of heroin on behaviour change. Superordinate themes with the corresponding subthemes are presented. This study brings attention to individuals' relationship with heroin and impact of heroin use on interpersonal relationships. Further studies and practical application of scientific knowledge are required to effectively support prisoners with heroin addiction and help them achieve recovery.

Attachment theory is one of the most influential theories of development and has implications for both personality and psychopathology across the life span. Integrating the principles from psychoanalysis, ethology, evolution, cognitive psychology, and

Indeed, opioid substitution treatment (OST) has been shown to be the most effective treatment for chronic heroin dependence in both community, [23][24][25] and prison setting. [26][27][28] OST is treatment of heroin dependence with opioid agonists (methadone) or opioid partial agonists (buprenorphine and buprenorphine-naloxone) which can be offered as a short-term detoxification or long-term maintenance treatment. Research has shown that OST is substantially more effective when offered on a long-term basis. 29,30 When administered at therapeutic doses (methadone >60ml, buprenorphine and buprenorphinenaloxone >8mg), OST has been shown to significantly reduce heroin use, HIV/HCV seroconversion, injecting drug use, overdose deaths and engagement in criminal activities. [31][32][33] Additionally, it notably improves treatment retention, general health, employment stability, social functioning and overall quality of life. 34,35 Due to their proven effectiveness, World Health Organisation, 36 includes methadone and buprenorphine on the list of essential medicines and recommends them to be available to people by all health systems and governments. WHO also provides clear directives that provision of essential medicines and healthcare services should be of the same standard in prisons and community. 36,37 Despite both WHO, 36 and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 38 recommending OST in prisons as primary treatment for heroin dependence and essential intervention for HIV prevention,

In the present text, I shall discuss jouissance and its relation to body and desire. Drawing on the works of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, I will proceed from the viewpoint that the essential property of jouissance is that does not grasp the concept of proper measure and does not follow the logic of consequentialism. In this respect, jouissance will be interpreted as a capitulation of the pleasure principle that is characterized by indifference to the subject’s survival. Jouissance will be further treated in relation to the body as the terrain of its existence, which is, however, significantly characterized by its failure in achieving jouissance. As a result, jouissance will be conceptualized as something unsuccessful, something that is structurally marked by the lack.