Salutogenesis: Your Path to Holistic Health | Interview with Ralph Steuernagel
Salutogenesis is the most effective way to help yourself!
Our modern medicine is based on a pathogenetic paradigm. It assumes a fundamental equilibrium (homeostasis) that it calls health. This equilibrium is temporarily disrupted by external or internal influences, and we become ill. After successful treatment, we are healthy again. This way of thinking has never convinced me.
Over 50 years ago, the medical sociologist Professor Aaron Antonovsky developed an outstanding alternative concept of salutogenesis, which forms the basis of our work at EURASIAMED. According to his model, heterostasis (imbalance), aging, and progressive entropy (disorder) are core characteristics of all living organisms.
He posed three central questions:
(1) How and why do people become ill, and how do they remain healthy despite numerous potentially harmful influences?
(2) How does health arise, and how is it maintained?
(3) What is special about people who do not become ill despite extreme stress?
Health is not a state, but a process. We are not simply healthy or ill, but rather more or less healthy on a health-illness continuum. Our capacity to adapt is crucial here. And very importantly: we must actively do something for our health every day. If we fail to do so, illness naturally arises.
Every seemingly healthy person exhibits imbalances, and every seriously ill person has healthy aspects. Health is a multidimensional phenomenon, and illness is not an inevitable fate.
A key concept in salutogenic theory is our sense of coherence (SOC), which encompasses the three components of comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. When this sense of trust in connections and meaning is pronounced, we are significantly more resilient.
In my practice, I place great emphasis on strengthening the sense of coherence as the foundation of all medical and psychotherapeutic interventions. When you understand the causes and consequences of an illness and recognize that there are realistic paths to healing, confidence arises.
However, the two perspectives of salutogenesis and pathogenesis should not be pitted against each other, as they complement each other valuablely. In the case of illness, a pathogenetic understanding is of great benefit. Nevertheless, we should undergo a fundamental paradigm shift, focusing less on fighting disease and more on doing something for our health.
I discussed this with Wolfgang Gutberlet for the GedankenGut Podcast at his BioHotel LindenGut, where we conduct seminars and retreats with EURASIAMED.
Enjoy and be inspired by this topic, which is very close to my heart!
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