The Rewards of Illness

Last updated: Tue, Aug 13, 2024

We tend to do what is rewarding to us, and not to do what is punishing to us. That is essentially the behavioralist's definition of reward and punishment. This theory points to the putative rewards of illness and maintains that these rewards can extend or amplify an illness. In a chronic condition, the opportunity for such a process to operate is extended. The rewards of illness that are pointed out include such things as:

• attention and special treatment from others
• reduction in pain (from inactivity and other self-protective behaviors)
• pain medication, which is widely believed to be intrinsically rewarding
• avoidance of disliked activities, for example work or sex
• “legitimized abdication of responsibility”1

This theory and its variants have an important place in the medical treatment of pain today. They are discussed at Secondary Gain.