Addictive behaviour is a behaviour related to addiction development. Addictive behaviours include drug addiction, Internet addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, and cell-phone addiction. These behavioural disorders involve compulsive behaviour, cravings, relapses, and reward deficiency. Previous studies report that they share identical brain mechanisms: the reward or hedonic brain system, which is the project of the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens. This mechanism is initiated through dopamine transmission, although several studies suggest that other neural substrates also modulate the rewarding system.

Recent studies suggest that neuropathic pain is a central nervous system (CNS) disease. Studies have mentioned that chronic pain or stress may use the same dopaminergic reward system to change addictive behaviour. Pain and addiction may share similar characteristics, including disrupted hedonic ability, compulsivity behaviour for drug-seeking, and experiencing severe stress. Addiction and pain show a significant challenge to our community and causes expensive costs in terms of long-term health care.

However, there are other current challenges in the field. Can we develop novel strategies to ameliorate and cure addictive behaviour and pain? Does the paradoxical effect, reward and aversion, simultaneously occur under experiencing addictive behaviours? Moreover, how does addictive aversion property affect addictive behaviours? Further studies should be conducted to investigate the relationship between addiction and pain, and how addiction interacts with pain. In addition, further research should be initiated to study if all diseases of neuropathic pain go through the spinothalamocortical pathway. Finally, there should be more studies about how addiction and pain share the dopamine reward system and if this can be experienced in other brain systems.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together research from behavioural science, molecular biology, pharmacology, neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry. We highly encourage multidisciplinary research in basic and applied issues underlying recent advances in addiction and pain. Original research and review articles are welcome.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Developing novel strategies to ameliorate and cure addictive behaviour and pain
• Addictive disorders induced reward and aversion effects
• Aversive neural substrates of drug addiction affecting addictive behaviours
• The relationship between addiction and pain, and their interactions
• Addiction and pain share with the dopamine reward system
• Current and novel pain treatments for addiction
• Drug addictions that share the same brain mechanism with non-pharmacological addiction