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Abnormal Illness Affirming States

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Encyclopedia of Pain
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Definition

A group of psychiatric disorders (conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, somatization, pain disorder, factitious disorder, and malingering), where primary and/or secondary gain is believed to be important to the production of some or all of the patient’s symptoms. Primary gain refers to intrapersonal (e.g., anxiety reducing) benefits and secondary gain refers to interpersonal benefits. It is to be noted that for malingering, secondary gain is thought to operate on a conscious level, but at an unconscious level for the other illness affirming states.

Cross-References

Abnormal Illness Behavior

Malingering, Primary and Secondary Gain

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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(2013). Abnormal Illness Affirming States. In: Gebhart, G.F., Schmidt, R.F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28753-4_200007

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