This book presents the latest findings originating from the symposium on 'Basic and Clinical Science of Substance Related Disorders' held in May 1998 in Basel. Its emphasis lays on the importance of the interdisciplinary aspect of addiction research. The biological section deals with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system and its effects on the vulnerability to drug addiction. Early developmental stages of substance abuse are discussed from an epidemiological standpoint in the second part. A third section takes up aspects of psychosocial consequences of heroin treatment, comorbidity research, the integration of drug therapy and psychotherapy into dependence management, the prevention of alcoholic relapse, and clinical addiction research between care responsibility and basic research. Finally the historical development of the ideologies of individual blame is looked at in the last part. The book gives specialists like neurobiologists, social scientists, health promoters, and other professionals dealing with drug addiction an insight into the diversity of the topic's biological, psychological and social dimensions.