[bill_from_tampa]

"Pseudo-addiction" is a very bad term and should never have been concocted. A more correct term would be "inadequately treated". Calling a person suffering from pain who reasonably desires relief from pain a "pseudoaddict" shifts the 'blame' and actual problem from the source of the problem (the doctor who is not adequately treating the pain) onto the patient -- like there is something wrong with the patient rather than something wrong with the doctor (inadequate skill in managing pain).

I'm a retired physician who prescribed opiates for decades and have seen how persons with inadequately controlled pain behave. This problem is created by (1) not having adequate treatment facilities and funding for such treatment for actual addicts, and (2) draconian drug laws that encourage addicts to visit physicians and pretend to have pain so they can get a high-quality safer supply of the desire of their addiction.

The problem is not 'pseudoaddiction', but rather 'pseudopain' behaviors that addicts have been trained to display. It is a glass half full vs half empty sort of problem, but using a term (pseudoaddiction) to describe a failure of medical treatment just seems perverse to me.