Introduction
Autumn blues. Second wave of coronavirus. It's time to pick up a seasonal virus infection, preferably not the one known, and lock yourself at home in a cozy blanket, as well as the love and care of people close to you. After all, you really want to sometimes disconnect from daily problems and be a helpless vegetable for at least a couple of days, which you cannot even pour yourself a glass of water. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? And it is very pleasant, despite the pain and damage to the body. Do you know why? Everything is in our head. And now I will tell you about the primary and secondary benefits that now and then make us literally dream of getting sick at any cost, and then successfully parasitize on the care of others.
Primary benefit of illness in psychology
The primary benefit is the benefit that the symptoms of any disease bring to a person. This phenomenon can be described as follows - a person suffers from a series of problems, internal conflicts that he himself cannot resolve. At this time, our body can unconsciously switch unresolved psychological problems to the body - creating a symptom of any disease, which is offered to a person as a less energy-consuming way to get out of internal conflict. This is an internal component of the primary benefit.The external component is manifested in the solution of interpersonal conflicts. For example, a pressure surge can be a reaction to an acute, repeated quarrel.
Real life example: You do not want to go to work in the morning and experience psychological discomfort. The subcortex of the brain accepts our request and in the morning provides a list of symptoms of otitis media, bronchitis, and so on.
As a result, your conscience is clear and you enjoy the benefits of your painful condition.
But over time, a person may develop dependence on a "beneficial" illness, which in turn can lead to the development of severe psychosomatic illnesses. Basically, the habit of solving problems through illness develops at an early age and this is greatly influenced by an unhealthy environment in the family (constant conflicts between parents). When a child gets sick, parents immediately forget about their unresolved questions and focus on him. The child, in turn, adopts such a technique, which leads to incessant chronic diseases that become the main tool for attracting attention.
How to solve such a problem is to devote more time to the child when he is healthy, and less time when he is sick.
How an adult can cope with primary benefit addiction:
- Identify a problem that emotionally overrides all others.
- Write down any primary benefits you receive.
- Ask yourself how you can get the same benefits in a different way, or whether you are willing to give up each of them.
- Try to dig deeper into the problem and the feelings associated with it. If the problem is with another person, talk to him and share your feelings.
- Be honest with yourself and others, and then you will find a way out without resorting to illness.
Secondary benefit from illness in psychology
Secondary benefit is the benefit that a person receives when the painful symptoms have already formed the disease. It stimulates the consolidation of the disease and psychological resistance to healing. As well as the primary manifests itself externally (advantages in interpersonal relationships) and internally (satisfaction of narcissistic needs).At the level of secondary benefit, the symptoms of the disease are not consciously fixed as something pleasant, cementing the connection between the disease and the pleasant consequences of it. A person will "hurt" as long as there is a meaning and an unmet need in it.
Types of secondary benefits:
- Temporary withdrawal from an uncomfortable situation (for example, headache as a reason to extend the vacation.
- The opportunity to get the missing portion of love, care and attention from the environment.
- Comfortable conditions for the redistribution of psychic energy.
- An incentive to reevaluate oneself as a person and correct behavior patterns (the disease warns of the wrong way of life)
- Reducing the level of demands from others.
Examples of secondary benefits in life.
- "Honest" blackmail - a sick mother is ready to die of illness, so that in return only more often to see her son who is busy with his family.
- Personal unrealization of a person - a woman created phobias for herself as a fear of dying from heart disease, although she was in excellent shape in order not to strive for anything under the guise of a disease.
- Unwillingness to solve internal problems - a person deliberately overloads himself with routine work, sleeps and eats poorly, in order to suffer and avoid global problems.
- Secondary benefit of the victim - in this case, a person of a socially disadvantaged status (for example: a drug addict) continues to engage in his addiction, avoiding thoughts about the future and self-development, and the “rescuer” attached to him (for example, a relative) sees in his salvation the meaning of life and he himself does not consciously resist recovery of the "victim".
To summarize, the search for secondary benefits is nothing more than a manifestation of laziness, fear and fear of responsibility.
