Functional Medicine is a systems biology–based approach that focuses on identifying and addressing the root cause of disease. Each symptom or differential diagnosis may be one of many contributing to an individual’s illness.
As the graphic illustrates, a diagnosis can be the result of more than one cause. For example, depression can be caused by many different factors, including inflammation. Likewise, a cause such as inflammation may lead to a number of different diagnoses, including depression. The precise manifestation of each cause depends on the individual’s genes, environment, and lifestyle, and only treatments that address the right cause will have lasting benefit beyond symptom suppression.
The Seven Basic Principles of Functional Medicine
- Science-based medicine that connects the emerging research base to clinical practice.
- Biochemical individually based on genetic and environmental uniqueness.
- Patient-centered care rather than disease-focused treatment.
- Dynamic balance of internal and external factors that affect total functioning.
- Web-like interconnections among the body’s physiological processes also affect every aspect of functionality.
- Health as a positive vitality, not merely the absence of disease.
- Promotion of organ reserve as a means to enhance the health span.