The consequences of climate change include not only physical but also psychosocial stressors for human health. This article examines this dimension of stress and the corresponding individually perceived adaptive capacities of farmers in the context of an empirical case study in the southern Baden Wuerttemberg. The results of the study show that there is mild to severe psychosocial stress caused by climate change that manifests as feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, hopelessness, resignation, and wishful thinking. Adaptive as well as maladaptive responses to this strain were identified. The perceived adaptation patterns often complement and influence each other, with maladaptive adaptation strategies often subconsciously impacting farmers’ emotions more directly, whereas adaptive adaptations usually exert an indirect influence in response to such stresses. However, these adaptive measures do not always alleviate but also contribute in part to the psychosocial stress of farmers. The study shows that climate change adaptation research and practice can benefit from an inclusive concept of health that takes greater account of individual, cognitive processes of subjective perception.