Secondary disease gain - a taboo with therapeutic relevance
Secondary disease gain
There are few terms in therapeutic work that are as sensitive as this one: secondary disease gain. It quickly sounds like manipulation, like "pretending to be ill", like drama. And yet the concept is neither derogatory nor malicious - but a psychodynamic phenomenon that helps us to better understand chronic processes.
Secondary illness gain means:
A person experiences certain benefits through their illness - consciously or unconsciously - that are not directly related to the actual symptom. It is therefore not about faking illness, but about experiencing positive side effects in a difficult condition.
Long Covid in therapy - still relevant, still challenging
Long Covid - still relevant
The acute pandemic is over - but for many patients, corona is far from over. Tiredness, shortness of breath, concentration problems, palpitations, pain, hypersensitivity - all of this remains. Sometimes subtle, sometimes paralyzing.
Long Covid is no longer a temporary phenomenon, but a chronic challenge - for those affected as well as for us therapists.
Kinesiophobia - when movement becomes a threat
Kinesiophobia
"I'd rather not move - I don't want to break anything again."
"If I bend down, the pain comes back - it was the same last time."
"I'd do sport, but I'm just too scared."
We encounter these phrases every day in our practice. There is often more behind them than just caution: a deeply rooted fear of movement - kinesiophobia.
The term is made up of the Greek kinesis (movement) and phobos (fear) and describes a psychological reaction that can significantly influence the course of chronic pain.
Pain & anxiety - when the body sounds the alarm
Pain & anxiety - when the body sounds the alarm
"I'm in constant pain - but all examinations are normal."
"My heart is racing, my chest is constricting, I can't breathe - and no one can find anything."
"I wake up at night, completely cramped. Everything hurts. And I'm terrified."
We hear statements like this again and again in therapeutic practice. And they show that pain is not just a physical event. It is a warning signal - and often part of a much larger, inner state of alarm.