Perspectives on salutogenesis of scholars writing in German: Contributions from Germany

Abstract

The concept of salutogenesis gained some interest in Germany following the publication in German of two articles by Antonovsky: ‘The salutogenic perspective: Towards a new way of looking at health and disease’, and ‘My odyssey as a stress researcher’. Antonovsky’s proposed change of perspective from the pathogenic point of view to the opposite―the salutogenic perspective of life―attracted in particular critical German medical professionals and the health movement they had initiated in the 1980s in Germany. Yet, the German scientific community was not really convinced of the validity of the sense of coherence construct and the interest of the research community was poor. However, as a model for stress management in rehabilitation psychology and in the discipline of psychosomatic medicine, the concept of salutogenesis was adapted and has broadened the traditional behavioural perspective to include also social and societal perspectives of health. Salutogenesis has gained particular attention in Germany as a patient/client-oriented resources model of health.