[Opiophobia : a current, well-founded and historical fear - What are the issues for palliative care ?]

Opiophobia is one of the principal causes of opioids' under-prescription in palliative care. From periods of abuse to times where their use was banned - which is still the case in some countries - the history of opioids is complex and it partially explains opiophobia. One of the main concern about the use of opioids is the risk of -dependence. Furthermore, scientific literature is not clear on this subject, in particular due to the fact that the scientific community has not yet come to an agreement on the terminology. This article shows, on the basis of specific studies, the predominance of opiophobia among the population and it outlines an historic overview of the use of opioids. In the last section, it focuses on the concept of dependence and the difficulty of measuring it in chronic opioid therapies.