ABSTRACT
With these words A. Antonovsky describes the feeling of meaningfulness and significance which, associated with the feeling of comprehensibility and manageability of the world, gives rise to the “sense of coherence” in a person. What are the factors which determine whether or not a person develops healthily in the course of his or her life? We are familiar with the possibly diseasecausing and pathogenic relevance of social and hygienic condi tions, the infectious and genetic causes of disease and similar things. But that is countered by the observation that the healthy development of the individual is not dependent solely on his or her circumstances but on the inner ability to maintain one’s own health.This has a physical, mental and individually spiritual dimension.
