Therapy

Therapy (in Greek θεραπεία therapeia " serving, service, the service, the care of the sick " ) referred to in medicine, dentistry, and psychotherapy, the measures for the treatment of diseases and injuries. The aim of the therapist is to facilitate or accelerate a cure, the elimination or relief of symptoms and restoration of physical or mental function. Various possibilities for the treatment of a disease are often referred to as therapeutic options.

The Therapeutics (Greek θεραπευτική therapeutikè ) is in the modern view, the doctrine of the healing process, which deals with the various forms of therapy, their mode of action and their applications.

In therapy, it may be:

• The general therapy, which is based on the overall condition of the patient.
• The particular therapy that addresses specific details of the treatment.

Therapeutics

In order to recommend appropriate therapy, first a diagnosis must be made. Here, a diagnosis is made by evaluating the various complaints and examination findings. The actual therapy then consists of measures to alleviate the symptoms or, preferably, the cause of disease. If a therapy due to a clinical picture is displayed, it is called an indication.

Therapy

Therapy is based on a direct or indirect action of the practitioner to the patient. The possibilities of action are manifold: in the surgery, the patient's body with tools manipulated ( surgery). The internal medicine relies primarily on the administration of medication ( pharmacotherapy, chemotherapy) or the removal of pathological fluids ( puncture of ascites or pleural effusion ). There are also radiation therapy ( radiotherapy ) with ionizing radiation ( esp. against malignant tumors ) or to be occupied or brought in, radiant substances ( radioactive iodine treatment against some tumors of the thyroid, contact irradiation of inoperable tumors by implanted capsules), but also light therapies for skin diseases or depression or electroconvulsive therapy under general anesthetic for breaking through a severe depression.

The Physiotherapy makes use of physical means such as electricity, heat or cold therapy treatments in the water, physiotherapy and manual therapy and is largely used in the healing of the musculoskeletal system.

Psychotherapy is used to treat mental, emotional and psychosomatic diseases, ailments or behavioral states using various forms of verbal and non-verbal communication. These include psychodynamic and behavioral approaches as well as Artistic therapies ( art therapy, drama therapy, music therapy, dance therapy ) and recently forms of virtual rehabilitation.

An important part of most therapies is communication between therapist and patient. It helps that the treatment is the subjective needs of the patient's needs and improves the ability of the patient, even to work for a favorable disease course. The psychiatric therapy relies even primarily on methods of systematic communication.

Usually has the effectiveness of a treatment process of a review of scientific method can withstand in order to be recognized by mainstream medicine as (see also: evidence-based medicine). Nevertheless, methods, especially outside of hospitals and doctors' offices, often used that do not satisfy this requirement. See: Alternative Medicine, Naturopathy.

Forms of therapy

Depending on the aim and purpose of therapy is one more adjectives added:

• Causal if it eliminates the pathogenic cause or it aspires at least ( ie, for example, the bacteria responsible of bacterial pneumonia with antibiotics directly combated )
• Symptomatic if only to alleviating existing symptoms and not the underlying cause is directed (eg, expectorant cough medicine for acute bronchitis, asthma spray in asthma attack, non-drug therapy for dementia).
• Curative when ( at least a defined disease ), the recovery of the patient to the target
• Palliative if it only relieves symptoms or complications preventing, without being against the primary disease itself (eg operating re expanses of malignant overgrown airways in lung cancer for better breathing).
• Supportive ( or fuzzy adjuvant), if the unwanted side effects of a (usually anticancer ) treatment are treated (eg nausea -relieving medications for nausea by cytostatic chemotherapy)
• Calculated when it (eg disproportionate effort in general practice or in acute danger to life) is from experience not practical to wait for a confirmed diagnosis and one already on suspicion begins to treat (eg, immediate administration of antibiotics in cases of suspected bacterial meningitis )
• Electively when the timing of the intervention can be determined relatively free ( as in many outpatient surgery )
• Frustran if it is in vain (eg frustrane revival )
• Preventively if it is a precautionary treatment of a not yet broken, but probably occurring in future disease (eg a special diet before symptoms occur in certain, established in routine examinations congenital metabolic diseases: see screening).
• Prophylaxis ( dentistry) in the sense of potentially therapeutic dental disease causative factors.

The vaccinations are to strengthen the body against the vulnerability to potential infectious diseases ( immunization ) and thus no therapy in the strict sense. In contrast, when an infection has already been done with high probability. In this case, the incubation of the agent is not completely elapsed ( the excitation is thus not " addressed "). In this case, it is a therapeutic vaccination (eg in cases of suspected rabies) with which one can somehow " overtake " the pathogen so that it meets a prepared immune system.

Over-treatment / therapy failure

Nonsensical expansion of treatment ( and diagnosis ) is called polypharmacy, inadequate treatment ( or diagnosis ) is a treatment failure and can lead to complications.

Therapy resistance

From a resistance to therapy is used when a sick person is not (more) responsive to treatments that were carried out in a technically correct according to current knowledge and normally should have led at least to an improvement in symptoms or, at best, a cure of the disease. If this is not the case, the condition is referred to as resistant to therapy. Then need to think about alternative therapies. However, it is also possible that the patient must be considered beyond treatment and further treatment has no curative claim more.