What Is Functional Medicine?

Function medicine is a patient-orientated form of treatment that focuses on the underlying causes of disease.¹ It differs from conventional medicine in that it is holistic with a focus on health and prevention. Conventional medicine is doctor-led, focusing on treating the ailment rather than the patient.

Rather than focusing on treating the disease and its symptoms, functional medicine focuses on the root, such as lifestyle and family history, and is most beneficial for chronic conditions with no single effective cure.

The Five Principles of Functional Medicine

Functional medicine is defined by five basic principles that dictate how treatment and recovery are viewed.

1. The Individual Is Not a Disease but a Person

One of the most important principles for functional medicine is the individual’s personhood. Each patient is a unique individual with their own genetic makeup and history, and their treatment should be tailored to them as a person rather than focused solely on treating the disease.

2. Functional Medicine Is Science-Based

While functional medicine differs from conventional medicine in many ways, one thing they have in common is their base in science and evidence. Genetics, biochemistry, and other studied aspects of the human body are considered when prescribing holistic treatment.

3. The Human Body Is Self-Healing

Since functional medicine views the human body as dynamic and capable of self-regulation, it also focuses on the ability to heal. This means that in some cases, such as with type 2 diabetes, treatment is centered on creating an environment for healing through diet and lifestyle changes rather than tackling the issue with medication.²

4. Everyone Has Potential to Heal Diseases Associated With Aging

There are many diseases associated with older age, including arthritis and high blood pressure. Functional medicine believes that, with the proper steps, the body can treat and even prevent these conditions.

5. Health Is Not Just the Absence of Disease

As a holistic form of treatment and medicine, functional medicine views health through a lens that focuses on all aspects of the mind and body. This means that it works to prevent diseases and treat them, all while focusing on the individual’s overall condition.

Adoption of a Functional Medicine Approach by U.S. Armed Forces

Recently, the U.S. Armed Forces have shifted the focus of their healthcare to adopt more aspects of functional medicine.³ This change has the potential to result in an abundance of benefits for soldiers and veterans and the way they utilize their access to healthcare and services.

The Need of a Functional Medicine Approach for Soldiers and Veterans

One of the main principles of functional medicine is that it views health as more than just the lack of physical disease. Its holistic healing plan accounts for treatment and preventatives, helping restore peace of mind in body health autonomy.

Deployment comes with a variety of risks, both for active military personnel and veterans.⁴ Functional medicine provides a method for high-quality care—necessary for adequate treatment and health—that is focused on the person rather than the ailment. This means that seemingly undiagnosable symptoms won’t go untreated, no matter their severity. Thus, healthcare like this provides great access to care for soldiers who otherwise may not benefit from other routes of medicine.

Barriers to High-Quality Healthcare

Despite the importance of quality healthcare, there are still several barriers that remain. These barriers to high-quality healthcare can make it difficult for veterans and active soldiers to receive the treatment they need, conventional or functional.

These barriers can include:

Removing Barriers to Mental Health Services for Veterans

In order to ensure equal access to high-quality mental healthcare services, it is important to reduce these barriers through various steps and methods. While there are several ways this can be done, these three methods are the current focus.

Increase the Number of Highly Trained Mental Health Providers

To increase accessibility to healthcare for veterans, it is important to first increase the number of providers available. Ensuring that each professional is highly trained in mental health will also help alleviate some concerns with trust or confidence in mental health treatment that many veterans and active soldiers have.

Adopt and Enforce Appropriate and Consistent Quality Standards

An additional way to remove the lack of trust and confidence would be to ensure that appropriate and consistent quality standards were adopted into mental healthcare practices.

Improve Monitoring and Performance Measurement of VA Community Care Programs

In order to continue improving the quality of healthcare that veterans receive, it is important to monitor performance regularly. This helps identify areas with less than consistent standards or faulty programs to innovate these areas to meet the needs of veterans.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Military Health System

According to a 2017 study, as many as 83% of military treatment facilities (MTF) used some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat patients.⁵ These CAM services can come in a variety of forms, including:

Increasing the availability of and accessibility to complementary and alternative medicine and a functional approach to healthcare provide a greater opportunity for holistic and personalized treatment for mental health disorders. With as many as five hundred thousand soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and similar disorders between 2003 and 2016, complementary and alternative medicine offers innovative ways outside conventional medicine and pharmaceutical treatment. However, such methods may also be helpful—especially when combined with CAM procedures and services.

Heal With Pacific Beach Health

If you are a member of the U.S. Armed Forces seeking help, reach out to our team at Pacific Beach Health. Our various treatment processes can guide you towards recovery and a life of fulfillment. Our dedicated team of professionals is ready to be by your side throughout the healing journey. Contact us today.

U.S. Armed Forces Adopt a Functional Medicine Approach for Soldiers and Veterans

Military health systems are now utilizing a functional medicine approach to better treat patients.