Identifying Secondary Gains A Compassionate Approach to Care
In psychology, a secondary gain is when you benefit from a problem. It’s when you receive advantages from unwanted conditions, circumstances, or limitations. In other words, you benefit from NOT overcoming problems. It doesn’t mean the problem is positive, but the benefits of having the problem support you in keeping it rather than solving it.
Secondary gains in psychology may seem like a paradox, but they’re pretty common. Of course, you would prefer to overcome difficulties rather than remain stuck, so why don’t you take action? From a psychological perspective, secondary gains provide answers.
When you have problems but benefit from them, keeping the status quo can seem easier than overcoming issues. But, especially long-term, getting to the root is much more beneficial, so you don’t develop unhealthy behaviors or limit yourself. Secondary gains are guides to help you get unstuck. They’re an invitation to understand the advantages you receive from retaining problems instead of solving them.
Secondary gains can be health issues, injuries, addictions, and unhealthy behaviours. For example, you crave attention and accidentally injure yourself. As a result, people care for you. You get what you want (attention) but at the expense of what you don’t want (injury). Although it’s nice to achieve your desired outcome, it’s not nice to perpetuate your problems and many secondary gains continue until they’re addressed subconsciously. Secondary Gain Examples Below are secondary gain examples. We begin with the problem or something negative you don’t want, then list the positive benefits gained. You accidentally injure yourself. Secondary gain example: You get to take time off work, your family takes care of you, and everyone gives you attention. Ouch, but yay! You break up with every person you date for no good reason. Example: You don’t have to let people close to you. No one will know the real you, so your flaws and weaknesses are kept safe. You suffer from anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Example: People are friendlier and more caring. Nobody expects anything of you, and people make more of an effort to spend time with you. Your partner stays with you. You’re addicted to smoking/alcohol. Example: Your addiction helps you relax and fit in socially. Addictions have many hidden gains that can create the experience you want… but at a cost. Secondary Health Gains You put on weight and can’t lose it no matter what you do. Secondary gain example: Your friends find you more relatable. You might not feel like you deserve attention, or perhaps past situations made you feel like it’s not safe to be good-looking, causing you to surround yourself with a layer of fat to fit in and play it safe.
You have health issues, such as chronic fatigue or pain. Example: Perhaps it prevents you from being social, working, or doing something else you don’t want. You can stay home and do less. Your fear of failure provokes anxiety and stress, but now you don’t have to worry about failure because you don’t have to do anything. WORKING WITH SECONDARY GAINS
Once a secondary gain has been identified, you can then help the client to effectively move forwards in their therapy process. In many cases, the secondary gain can come as a bit of a surprise to the client. Roberta may not have consciously realised that she was gaining weight to avoid sex. Sometimes, it can just happen that a certain behavioural or cognitive ‘habit’ can have additional benefits. Other times, the client may be aware of the secondary benefit, but it can be embarrassing or more personal than they’d originally intended on sharing during the therapy session. However, you can work both in hypnosis and conversationally, taking behavioural, cognitive, analytical and even regression therapy approaches in order to help the client find a new way to fulfil the positive benefit that their secondary gain gives them, but without keeping hold of the problem itself.
