Functional diseases and clinical medicine

Abstract

Reductionist approach in medicine considers living systems as closed (closed) formations whose functions
are completely determined by the properties of the corresponding material components. Each disturbance of the function is explained by previous changes in the structures that realize this function. From this it follows that any pathology is structurally functional in its essence, and the concept of "functional diseases" is fundamentally erroneous because of the distortion of cause-effect relationships. As medicine progresses, the actual primary structural markers of "functional" diseases are expected to be discovered, which will be crucial for their early diagnosis and pathogenetic treatment (primarily aimed at eliminating the primary link of disorders). At the same time, in medicine there is a more general holistic (functionally oriented) approach, forming a different stereotype of clinical thinking. Within this framework, any pathology is due to the lack of adaptive functions of the organism in the changed conditions of existence. Usually the complex nature of functional interactions makes it impossible to describe them on the basis of the current characteristics of the material components of the system, especially when external pathogenic factors influence the organism. It is external actions that can initiate a primary deficit of adaptive mechanisms with known secondary structural changes, which allows us to stop treating "functional diseases" as a fundamentally wrong concept. The primary deficit of functions is most evident in information pathology, the ideal nature of which is not reduced to the corresponding material carriers. All this calls into question the possibility of detecting the primary structural markers of certain diseases, especially if they are based on information pathology (neurosis, anorexia nervosa, mental amenorrhea, seasickness, some forms of phantom pains, etc.).