Health Myth Buster: An Interview with Dr. Mark Hyman
Functional medicine moves beyond diagnosis-based medicine to incorporate new research that for the first time focuses on the underlying causes of disease. It applies the technologies we have, the clinical innovations and a broad range of treatments to help restore and optimize normal function and health. FM integrates conventional therapies, nutrition and herbal treatments and alternative methodologies in one encompassing, patient-centered approach. It’s very exciting, and right now, the fastest growing field in medicine.
Karen: Your UltraWellness Model and core therapies are grounded in 20 years of medical research and practice. Why is this approach not more widely known and accessible in contemporary medical practice?
Scientists tend to see what they believe rather than believe what they see. I think the result is we often avoid or ignore data that doesn’t fit with certain ideas that we have. In addition, many studies that are out there aren’t correctly synthesized or incorporated into medical practice. The good news is there is there is a shift in medicine, from a reductionist model wherein, we take things apart to understand them, to synthesis—putting things back together to understand how the dots connect. Twenty-first century medicine is the science of understanding the few underlying circumstances in our biology that lead to all the diseases we see.
Karen: You have shown, and discuss in the book UltraMind Solution, that the “diseases” we think are brain problems are actually imbalances in the body that manifest in the brain. Can you provide an example?
Dr. Hyman: The name of a disease is simply that—a name. The name does not address the underlying cause. For example, ADHD is the name of a “disease” characterized by a set of symptoms, including inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. A person experiencing depression [may present with] symptoms such as sad feelings, loss of interest in activities, decreased sex drive, difficulty sleeping. Multiple causes can lead to the same cluster of symptoms we categorize as depression or ADD or other chronic conditions. Drugs may suppress the symptoms and enable a child to function at school or an adult to function in daily living, but the symptoms [usually] return as soon as the medication wears off.
