Morbid gain, or: Why would anyone want to be disabled?

Psychological science has named several types of benefits from illness or misfortune. These help us understand some of the paradoxes of human behavior - why would a child want to perform poorly on a test? Why would a spouse encourage his/her partner to see him/herself as ill when s/he is not? 

We gave our cat special food in a special bowl because he told us he was dying, but he was not. This is secondary gain, and also an example of malingering.

Primary gain is the psychological benefit that a person receives from illness. The illness or disability must precede the benefit and be the cause for it. For example, a person who doesn’t want to attend a party, and then finds himself too ill to attend is exhibiting primary gain. He no longer needs to attend the party, and the illness prevents him from feeling guilty about staying home (the primary gain). 

Secondary gain might be the easiest to see, as it is external. This is something straightforward, like when a person gets a financial benefit for injury or illness. A settlement, or an excuse from work, or charitable gift due to illness are all examples of secondary gain. 

Tertiary gain involves another person. In this kind of gain, a person experiences a benefit from someone else’s illness or disability. For example, a spouse might get lots of positive attention from the community for caring for his/her ill spouse. This kind of gain is the one experienced by the perpetrator in cases of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, but not all tertiary gain involves MSbP.