The Functional Medicine Approach to Psychiatry
Functional medicine is an approach to preventing or treating chronic illness that is quite different from conventional medicine or psychiatry.
When providers typically work with patients, they collect information about symptoms and complaints with the aim of making a diagnosis and prescribing a treatment. Treatment is usually a medication aimed at lowering symptoms. This approach works for some but fails many. When it doesn’t work, patients try other medications but are sometimes left with unresolved complaints. Another alternative is taking multiple medications which raises the risk of adverse effects and doesn’t always resolve symptoms either.
The goal of a functional medicine evaluation goes beyond making a diagnosis or writing a prescription. The functional medicine provider looks for imbalances in the body with the aim of discovering the root cause of symptoms.
This is an approach that takes into consideration genetics, prenatal events, and one’s entire medical history. The history gathering also includes psychosocial information as well. Laboratory data provides additional information about factors in the body that might provide clues to why the brain isn’t working, such as chronic inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, hormone imbalances, digestive problems and more.
Medications might be a suggested step for addressing symptoms, but the functional medicine approach goes far beyond this.
The primary “prescription” used by functional medicine providers is food-real, unprocessed food. There’s just no substitute for real food when it comes to creating a healthy brain or restoring function to a brain that has been in the throes of chemical dependency.
Supplements are used as well to support the brain and body in achieving optimal function. Typical brain support nutrients include all the B vitamins (known as B complex), vitamin D3, omega-3 fats (fish oil), and magnesium. Probiotics can be added for the support they give to normalizing the function of the digestive and immune systems. Other nutrients might be added to address needs or imbalances.
Other lifestyle measures beyond food are also very important and frequently used in the functional medicine approach. Beyond food choices, it is critical to create good habits around sleep, movement, and relaxation. Equally important is having connections to others and a sense of purpose.
There are some patients who might get dramatic symptom improvements after making only a few changes in lifestyle. This, unfortunately, isn’t the case for everyone who has chronic symptoms of mental illness. Some underlying causes of brain dysfunction can be more difficult to detect and require more in-depth laboratory assessments. The foundation of recovery is always creating a routine that provides adequate nutrition, rest, movement and meaning. When these are not enough, then it can become necessary to work with a functional medicine provider who can help investigate other causes.
Throughout the world of conventional medicine, the primary message given is that you need medications to deal with any symptoms. In the functional medicine model, the message is that we all possess the power to determine our health destiny when we become educated about the real causes of disease and dedicated to our own self-care.