Fibromyalgia is a well-known syndrome interpreted as general muscular pain in the whole body and as pressure soreness in the so-called tender points. The cause of the syndrome is not yet clear and it has therefore been difficult to find proper treatment. The aim of this study was to describe how patients with fibromyalgia conceived their health after having taken part in an intervention programme based on ego-strengthening psychotherapy and the salutogenetic model. The intervention was performed by an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist. In this study, 10 patients were interviewed and data were analysed by the phenomenographic method. Four different catagories of health conceptions became evident as a result of the intervention; receiving confirmation, creating distance to things, gaining insight, and gaining control. The results showed that the patients had increased their sense of meaningfulness, comprehensibility and manageability of the pain syndrome, which led to improved health. Due to the fact that this kind of intervention requires comparatively small resources in terms of staff and financial expenditure it is suitable in small clinics, e.g. health care centres. Further research should be aimed at finding out whether this intervention also suits patients with other diagnoses or whether treatment in larger groups might produce equally favourable results. © 1995 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved: reproduction in whole or part not permitted.