Reviews data supporting an individual-centered vision of addiction and discusses the experimental evidence suggesting that stress, glucocorticoids, and dopamine are organized in a pathophysiological chain, giving rise to vulnerability to drug abuse. The development of addiction does not seem to be the simple consequence of the intrinsic effects of drugs of abuse, but rather the result of their interaction with specific individual substrates. Differences in the propensity to develop drug intake can be demonstrated in animals with equal access to drugs under stable laboratory conditions and can be predicted by drug-independent behaviors. An understanding of the part played by individuals and their biological makeup in the etiology of drug abuse is an essential step in the development of new strategies for the treatment of addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)