Functional medicine is a personalized and integrative approach to healthcare that addresses the root causes of chronic disease rather than the prevailing conventional model of treating the symptoms. Functional medicine helps the patient attain true primary prevention of disease (before the disease is present) rather than just early detection (the disease process has already started). This is achieved by incorporating an analysis of how all the components of the human body interact functionally with one another and the environment. By focusing on a patient-centered approach, rather than the conventional disease-centered model, functional medicine addresses the whole person – not just their symptoms.

In most cases, the patients possess the solutions to their own problems and the physician’s job is to retrieve that information and organize it into an actionable plan that the patient understands and is willing to do. Ultimately, functional medicine supports a uniquely personalized expression of health and vitality for each individual. This is an evolution in medical practice that better addresses 21st-century healthcare needs.

Healing the patient has become replaced with treating the patient. This change in terminology implies that the patient’s problems are permanent, but the symptoms may be controlled with a lifetime of ever-increasing drugs.