Perhaps Functional Medicine is best explained by contrasting it with Conventional Medicine.
- Where Conventional Medicine asks, “What’s the diagnosis?” Functional Medicine asks “Why is the body not working, not “functioning,” the way it was designed to work?”
- Where Conventional Medicine asks, “What is the treatment for this disease, for these symptoms, for this diagnosis?” Functional Medicine asks, “How do we best restore optimal function?”
- Where Conventional Medicine leans predominantly on prescription medications, Functional Medicine aims to restore optimal function more naturally — correcting nutritional deficiencies, restoring hormonal imbalances, minimizing immune stressors, eliminating food hypersensitivities, and so on.
- Where Conventional Medicine treats each body systems in isolation, Functional Medicine recognizes the intricate, web-like interconnections linking everything together.
- Where Conventional Medicine tends to treat all patients with a given diagnosis the same way, Functional Medicine tailors a specific treatment plan to each individual, recognizing that everyone’s physiology, biochemistry, and genetic predisposition is unique.
- Where Conventional Medicine focuses almost exclusively on the physical body, Functional Medicine recognizes and addresses the complex inter-relatedness of body, mind, and spirit.