therapy

Therapy (in Greek: θεραπεία), or treatment, is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. In the medical field, it is synonymous with the word "treatment". Among psychologists, the term may refer specifically to psychotherapy or "talk therapy".

Preventive therapy or prophylactic therapy is a treatment that is intended to prevent a medical condition from occurring. For example, many vaccines prevent infectious diseases. An abortive therapy is a treatment that is intended to stop a medical condition from progressing any further. A medication taken at the earliest signs of a disease, such as at the very symptoms of a migraine headache, is an abortive therapy.

A supportive therapy is one that does not treat or improve the underlying condition, but instead increases the patient's comfort.^[1] Supportive treatment may be used in palliative care.

Overtreatment is an overutilization, a treatment that is unnecessary or disproportionate to the situation. For example, the treatment of a condition that causes no symptoms and will go away on its own is overtreatment. Similarly, extensive treatment for a condition that could be remedied with very limited treatment is overtreatment. Overtreatment may be caused by overdiagnosis, the identification of harmless abnormalities.

Adverse effects

Main articles: Adverse drug reaction and Adverse effect

In addition to (or in place of) the intended therapeutic effect of a treatment, a therapist may cause undesired (adverse) effects as well. When an adverse effect is weaker than the therapeutic effect, one commonly speaks of a "side effect".

An adverse effect may result from an unsuitable or incorrect dosage or procedure (which could be due to medical error). Some adverse effects occur only when starting, increasing or discontinuing a treatment. Using a drug or other medical intervention which is contraindicated may increase the risk of adverse effects. Patients sometimes quit a therapy because of its adverse effects. The severity of adverse effects ranges from nausea to death. Common adverse effects include alteration in body weight, change in enzyme levels, loss of function, or pathological change detected at the microscopic, macroscopic or physiological level.

Adverse effects may cause a reversible or irreversible change, including an increase or decrease in the susceptibility of the individual to other chemicals, foods, or procedures (e.g. drug interaction).

Difference between preventions, treatments, and cures

A prevention or preventive measure is a way to avoid an injury, sickness, or disease in the first place, and generally it will not help someone who is already ill (though there are exceptions). For instance, many babies in developed countries are given a polio vaccination soon after they are born, which prevents them from contracting polio. But the vaccination does not work on patients who already have polio. A treatment or cure is applied after a medical problem has already started.

A treatment treats a problem, and may lead to its cure, but treatments often ameliorate a problem only for as long as the treatment is continued, especially in chronic diseases. For example, there is no cure for AIDS, but treatments are available to slow down the harm done by HIV and delay the fatality of the disease. Treatments don't always work. For example, chemotherapy is a treatment for some types of cancer. In some cases, chemotherapy may cause a cure, but not in all cases for all cancers. When nothing can be done to stop or improve a medical condition, beyond efforts to make the patient more comfortable, the condition is said to be untreatable. Some untreatable conditions naturally resolve on their own; others do not.

Cures are a subset of treatments that reverse illnesses completely or end medical problems permanently. Many diseases that cannot be cured are still treatable.

Types of therapies

By therapy composition

Treatments can be classified according to the method of treatment:

by matter

• by drug: pharmacotherapy, chemotherapy, mesotherapy
• by medical device
• by gene: gene therapy
• by gold: chrysotherapy (aurotherapy)
• by hormone: hormone therapy
• by organism: biotherapy
  • by virus: virotherapy
  • by bacteriophage: phage therapy
  • by maggot: maggot therapy
• by ozone: ozonotherapy
• by salt: speleotherapy
• by serum: serotherapy
• by water: hydrotherapy

by energy

• by electric energy
  • by electricity: electrotherapy
  • by electromagnetic radiation: electromagnetic therapy
  • by magnetic energy: magnet therapy
• by light: phototherapy
• by mechanical: manual therapy as massotherapy & therapy by exercise as in physiotherapy
  • by sound: Cymatic therapy, music therapy
• by radiation: radiotherapy
• by temperature
  • by heat: thermotherapy
  • by cold: cryotherapy

by human interaction

• by counseling, such as psychotherapy
• by education
• by physical therapy/occupational therapy, massage therapy, or acupuncture
• by lifestyle modifications, such as avoiding unhealthy food or maintaining a predictable sleep schedule

by meditation

First or second line

Treatment decisions often follow formal or informal algorithmic guidelines. A first-line therapy (sometimes called induction therapy or primary therapy)^[2] usually on the basis of clinical evidence for its efficacy in the population at large.^{[citation needed]} If a first-line therapy either fails to resolve the issue or produces intolerable side effects, additional agents (second-line therapies) may be substituted or added to the treatment regimen.^{[citation needed]}

See also

Look up therapy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals
• Cure
• Interventionism (medicine)
• Inverse benefit law
• List of therapies
• Greyhound therapy
• Mature minor doctrine
• Medicine
• Medication
• Nutraceutical
• Prevention
• Psychotherapy
• Therapeutic inertia
• Therapeutic nihilism, the idea that treatment is useless

References