Therapy is ... Methods, types

Perhaps, every person at least once heard the word therapy and in general terms knows what it means. This term is most often used in medicine. Its full definition is as follows: therapy is a complex of measures aimed at eliminating any disease, alleviating its symptoms or recovering from a physical or psychological trauma.

At the moment there are more than a hundred kinds of therapy. Medical therapy is an absolute synonym for the word "treatment".

Main Approaches

There are several main approaches in therapy:

1. Etiotropic therapy is such an approach to treatment, in which the main task of the doctor is to eliminate the root cause of the disease.

2. Pathogenetic therapy implies intervention in the mechanism of the disease in order to facilitate its course.

3. The symptomatic approach is used to eliminate or reduce the symptoms of the disease. This type of therapy is characteristic of genetic diseases, in which it is impossible to eliminate the underlying cause or change the mechanism of the pathology.

Methods of therapy

There are several therapeutic methods. The following are considered basic:

1. Chemical methods. They include the effect on the body of biologically active substances.

2. Physical methods involve exposure to the patient's body with various types of radiation for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment, as well as massage and physical education.

3. Surgical methods - surgical intervention. Usually they are used when other methods of treatment are ineffective.

The main types of therapy

There are many kinds of therapy. The main types, familiar to almost everyone, are pharmacotherapy, physiotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, phytotherapy, electrophoresis. Let us dwell on some of them.

Pharmacotherapy (pharmacological therapy) is a type of treatment that includes the use of medications. Pharmacotherapy is effective for a very wide range of pathologies - from colds to oncology. Chemotherapy used to treat cancerous tumors and fungi is also a form of pharmacotherapy, as the effect on the causative agent of the disease occurs with the participation of poisons and other chemical compounds.

Physiotherapy is an extensive section of applied medicine that deals with the study of the effect of physical factors on the human body.

Radiotherapy (or radiation therapy) is a set of measures that imply exposure to the patient's body with alpha, beta or gamma radiation.