Aaron Antonovsky

Aaron Antonovsky (* 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, NY, USA, † July 7, 1994 in Beersheba, Israel) was a professor of sociology and is considered the father of salutogenesis.

Career

Antonovsky served in World War II on the side of the Allies, in the U.S. Army. After his military service, he began with the study of sociology, from which he graduated with a doctorate degree. With his wife Helen Antonovsky 1960 he emigrated to Jerusalem, Israel.

During his time at the Applied Social Research Institute to Antonovsky busy with studies of women who were born in Central Europe 1914-1923. Some of them were survivors of concentration camps. He noticed that 29 % of the formerly interned women, saw despite the extreme stressors to which they were exposed during their life in a good mental state. This led him to the question of what keeps people healthy, from which ultimately originated the concept of salutogenesis. The concept of salutogenesis Antonovsky developed during the 1970s and in 1979 attracted much attention with the publication of his book, Health, stress, and coping.

Salutogenesis

The salutogenic approach refers in contrast to the pathogenesis not with the question " Why is man is sick" but rather with the question " What keeps him healthy." Especially at the beginning of his research was Antonovsky in the academic world with his approach quite alone there, his approach is yet to fully consider controversial to traditional medicine. But Antonovsky or salutogenesis closes the pathogenesis basically not, but uses her exactly as a resource for health.

For Antonovsky, man is constantly moving on a continuum between health and disease. Thus, the relationship between the two variables is in equilibrium, or maybe even more towards " health " deflects, he uses different, his access to resources. So Antonovsky defined the concept of " sense of coherence " (SOC ) to German " sense of coherence ", which describes the ability of people to use the resources offered to him in order to keep yourself healthy. These resources can be very different depending on the social and physical environment. Now coming to Antonovsky, SOC into play, because it raises the question, why are two people who are exposed to the same stress and have the same resources available, yet so fundamentally different. A person is sick, the other remains healthy. This includes Antonovsky on the varying degrees of SOC of both people.

Antonovsky referred to in his research in particular on the psychosomatic and psychosocial level. Over the decades the approach of Antonovsky more versatile and of many professorships was taken. So salutogenesis is now an integral part of many fields such as sociology, psychology, health and sports science.

Writings (selection )

• Health, stress, and coping. New perspectives on mental and physical well-being, San Francisco 1979.
• Unraveling the mystery of health. How people manage stress and stay well. , San Francisco 1987.
• Salutogenesis. To demystify the health. Advanced German edition by A. Franke, Tübingen 1997.