Knowledge · Salutogenesis
Living in a health-supporting way despite strain
A diagnosis, chronic illness or longer-lasting strain can change many parts of everyday life. Work, relationships, recovery and the question of what’s possible right now.
Living in a health-supporting way under these conditions doesn’t mean that the strain has to disappear first. It means looking more closely. What’s putting the most pressure on you? What helps? What can change, and how can everyday life work better with what’s present now?
What does salutogenesis mean?
Salutogenesis asks what helps people live as healthfully as possible even under difficult conditions. The approach was developed by medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky.
The focus isn’t only on what makes people ill. It also asks which conditions help people deal with strain and experience life as understandable, manageable and meaningful.
In everyday life, this can mean looking more closely at questions such as these. What gives you strength? Where can you influence things? Which demands are currently too much? And what helps you live with things that can’t simply be changed?
When illness or strain changes everyday life
A diagnosis or longer-lasting health strain often affects more than individual symptoms. It can change how you plan your day, how much energy is available, how you work or what you expect from yourself.
You may need to weigh more often what’s possible today and what has to wait. Relationships can change because you need more support while not wanting to explain yourself all the time. Uncertainty may also become part of everyday life. What’s possible right now? What happens if things get worse again? And how do you plan when you don’t know how you’ll feel in a few weeks?
At such times, it can be useful not only to look at the strain itself, but also at how you want to shape your life under changed conditions.
What can help in everyday life?
When health, capacity or energy changes, everyday life often needs to be reorganised. The point isn’t to “manage” everything as efficiently as possible, but to find out what’s genuinely workable under current conditions.
- Plan with the energy you actually have. Not only what needs to be done, but what’s realistically possible on a given day.
- Distribute tasks differently. Accept support, clarify responsibilities or hand over things that don’t have to remain yours.
- Include recovery in the plan. Don’t wait until nothing works anymore before allowing breaks.
- Reconsider expectations. Some expectations may still belong to an earlier version of everyday life rather than what’s possible now.
- Speak openly about changes. In private or professional life, it can help to say earlier what’s possible and what isn’t.
- Leave room for fluctuation. Not every day is the same. A schedule with some breathing room can be more useful than a very tight plan.
What can change and what cannot?
Not everything that’s difficult can be solved or reversed. Illness, physical limitations or other circumstances can create conditions you have to live with for now.
At the same time, there are often areas you can influence. For example, how you structure everyday life, which tasks you take on, where you accept support, how much recovery you plan or what you expect from yourself.
It can help to separate the two questions. What can I change? And what do I need to find a way of living with for now? That doesn’t automatically remove the strain, but it can help direct your energy towards places where something is actually possible.
Support that genuinely helps
Support doesn’t automatically help simply because it’s offered. What matters is whether it matches what you need.
Sometimes support means someone listening. Sometimes it helps more when a task is taken over, an appointment can be moved, or you don’t have to explain each time why something isn’t possible right now.
Relationships can also change through a diagnosis or longer-lasting strain. Needs, roles and expectations shift. It can therefore help to talk openly about what you want to carry yourself, where you need support and where you want to set clearer boundaries.
Accepting support doesn’t mean giving up responsibility. It can help you use your own energy more deliberately.
When guidance may be useful
Guidance may be useful when a diagnosis, chronic illness or longer-lasting strain has changed many parts of your life and you want to work out how everyday life can continue under these conditions.
This may involve using your energy differently, reconsidering expectations, sorting through changes in relationships or work, or making decisions that have arisen because circumstances have changed.
Together, we look at what’s occupying you, what you can influence and where you need to find a way of living with something that can’t be changed at the moment.
What guidance can look like
At the beginning, we look at what has changed in your life through the health-related strain and what’s occupying you most right now. This may involve work, relationships, the use of your energy or decisions that now have to be made under different conditions.
As we continue, we sort through where something can change and where the task is to find a workable way of living with what can’t be changed at the moment. We can also look at which expectations still fit your life today, where you need support and what could genuinely reduce strain in everyday life.
The aim isn’t to function exactly as you did before as quickly as possible. What matters is finding out how life can continue in a way that feels fitting under today’s conditions.
Frequently asked questions
What people ask
Can guidance take place alongside psychotherapy?
It can be possible. What matters is keeping the roles clear. In guidance, for example, we can look at how your situation affects everyday life, relationships, work or decisions and what you’d like to change there.
What can guidance after a diagnosis or with chronic strain offer in practical terms?
The focus isn’t the diagnosis itself, but how you live with changed conditions. We can look at how you use your energy, deal with expectations, organise support or sort through changes in work and relationships.
Do I already need to know what I want to change?
No. Especially after a diagnosis or when strain has lasted for some time, it may not yet be clear what can change at all. We can sort through what’s occupying you most and where you want to begin.
If you would like to sort through your situation together
If a diagnosis, chronic strain or other health-related change has shifted many parts of your everyday life, we can use a free initial consultation (30 minutes) to discuss what’s going on and whether 1:1 guidance fits.
Sources and further reading
Antonovsky, Aaron (1987): Unraveling the Mystery of Health: How People Manage Stress and Stay Well.
Antonovsky, Aaron (1996): The salutogenic model as a theory to guide health promotion. Health Promotion International, 11(1), 11-18.
World Health Organization (2021): Health Promotion Glossary of Terms 2021, “Salutogenesis”.