A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

problem, usually following a

medical diagnosis Medical diagnosis (abbreviated Dx, Dx, or Ds) is the process of determining which disease or condition explains a person's symptoms and signs. It is most often referred to as a diagnosis with the medical context being implicit. The information ...

. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or T_x. As a rule, each therapy has indications and

contraindication In medicine, a contraindication is a condition (a situation or factor) that serves as a reason not to take a certain medical treatment due to the harm that it would cause the patient. Contraindication is the opposite of indication, which is a rea ...

s. There are many different types of therapy. Not all therapies are effective. Many therapies can produce unwanted

adverse effect An adverse effect is an undesired harmful effect resulting from a medication or other intervention, such as surgery. An adverse effect may be termed a "side effect", when judged to be secondary to a main or therapeutic effect. The term compli ...

s. ''Treatment'' and ''therapy'' are often synonymous, especially in the usage of

health professional A health professional, healthcare professional (HCP), or healthcare worker (sometimes abbreviated as HCW) is a provider of health care treatment and advice based on formal training and experience. The field includes those who work as a Nursing, nur ...

s. However, in the context of

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

, the term ''therapy'' may refer specifically to

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

Semantic field

The words ''care'', ''therapy'', ''treatment'', and ''intervention'' overlap in a

semantic field In linguistics, a semantic field is a related set of words grouped semantically (by meaning) that refers to a specific subject.Howard Jackson, Etienne Zé Amvela, ''Words, Meaning, and Vocabulary'', Continuum, 2000, p14. The term is also used in ...

, and thus they can be

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

ous depending on

context In semiotics, linguistics, sociology and anthropology, context refers to those objects or entities which surround a ''focal event'', in these disciplines typically a communicative event, of some kind. Context is "a frame that surrounds the event ...

. Moving rightward through that order, the connotative level of

holism Holism is the interdisciplinary idea that systems possess properties as wholes apart from the properties of their component parts. Julian Tudor Hart (2010''The Political Economy of Health Care''pp.106, 258 The aphorism "The whole is greater than t ...

decreases and the level of specificity (to

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

instances) increases. Thus, in

health-care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is deliver ...

contexts (where its

senses A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditionally identified as su ...

are always noncount), the word ''care'' tends to imply a broad idea of everything done to protect or improve someone's health (for example, as in the terms ''preventive care'' and ''

primary care Primary care is a model of health care that supports first-contact, accessible, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated person-focused care. It aims to optimise population health and reduce disparities across the groups by ensuring equitable ...

'', which connote ongoing action), although it sometimes implies a narrower idea (for example, in the simplest cases of

wound care The history of wound care spans from prehistory to modern medicine. Wounds naturally Wound healing, heal by themselves, but hunter-gatherers would have noticed several factors and certain herbalism, herbal remedies would speed up or assist the pro ...

or postanesthesia care, a few particular steps are sufficient, and the patient's interaction with the provider of such care is soon finished). In contrast, the word ''intervention'' tends to be specific and concrete, and thus the word is often

countable In mathematics, a Set (mathematics), set is countable if either it is finite set, finite or it can be made in one to one correspondence with the set of natural numbers. Equivalently, a set is ''countable'' if there exists an injective function fro ...

; for example, one instance of

cardiac catheterization Cardiac catheterization (heart cath) is the insertion of a catheter into a heart chamber, chamber or Blood vessel, vessel of the heart. This is done both for diagnostic and interventional purposes. A common example of cardiac catheterization is c ...

is one intervention performed, and coronary care (noncount) can require a series of interventions (count). At the extreme, the piling on of such countable interventions amounts to interventionism, a flawed model of care lacking holistic circumspection—merely treating

discrete Discrete may refer to: *Discrete particle or quantum in physics, for example in quantum theory * Discrete device, an electronic component with just one circuit element, either passive or active, other than an integrated circuit * Discrete group, ...

problems (in billable increments) rather than maintaining health. ''Therapy'' and ''treatment'', in the middle of the semantic field, can connote either the holism of ''care'' or the discreteness of ''intervention'', with context conveying the intent in each use. Accordingly, they can be used in both noncount and count senses (for example, ''therapy for

chronic kidney disease Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a type of long-term kidney disease, defined by the sustained presence of abnormal kidney function and/or abnormal kidney structure. To meet criteria for CKD, the abnormalities must be present for at least three mo ...

can involve several dialysis treatments per week''). The words '' aceology'' and ' are obscure and obsolete synonyms referring to the study of therapies. The English word ''therapy'' comes via Latin ''therapīa'' from and literally means "curing" or "healing". The term ' is a somewhat archaic doublet of the word ''therapy''.

Types of therapies

Therapy as a treatment for physical or mental condition is based on knowledge usually from one of three separate fields (or a combination of them): conventional medicine (allopathic, Western biomedicine, relying on scientific approach and evidence-based practice), traditional medicine (age-old cultural practices), and alternative medicine (healthcare procedures "not readily integrated into the dominant healthcare model").

By chronology, priority, or intensity

Levels of care

Levels of care classify

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

into categories of chronology, priority, or intensity, as follows: *

Urgent care An urgent care center (UCC), also known as an urgent treatment centre (UTC) in the United Kingdom, is a type of walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of urgent ambulatory care in a dedicated medical facility outside of a traditional emergency depa ...

handles health issues that need to be handled today but are not necessarily emergencies; the urgent care venue can send a patient to the emergency care level if it turns out to be needed. ** In the United States (and possibly various other countries),

urgent care An urgent care center (UCC), also known as an urgent treatment centre (UTC) in the United Kingdom, is a type of walk-in clinic focused on the delivery of urgent ambulatory care in a dedicated medical facility outside of a traditional emergency depa ...

centers also serve another function as their other main purpose: U.S.

practices have evolved in recent decades into a configuration whereby urgent care centers provide portions of primary care that cannot wait a month, because getting an appointment with the primary care practitioner is often subject to a waitlist of 2 to 8 weeks. *

Emergency care Emergency medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (or "ER doctors") specialize in providing care for unscheduled and undifferentiated pa ...

handles medical emergencies and is a first point of contact or intake for less serious problems, which can be referred to other levels of care as appropriate. This therapy is often given to patients before a definitive diagnosis is made. *

Intensive care Intensive care medicine, usually called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes p ...

, also called critical care, is care for extremely ill or injured patients. It thus requires high resource intensity, knowledge, and skill, as well as quick

decision making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either ra ...

. *

Ambulatory care Ambulatory care or outpatient care is Health care, medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This care can include advanced medical technolog ...

is care provided on an

outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other healt ...

basis. Typically patients can walk into and out of the clinic under their own power (hence "ambulatory"), usually on the same day. This care type also involves surgery which, according to recent research, offers "generally superior 30-day outcomes relative to inpatient-based care". *

Home care Homecare (home care, in-home care, care at home), also known as domiciliary care, personal care, community care, or social care, is health care or supportive care provided in the individual home where the patient or client is living, generally focu ...

is care at home, including care from providers (such as physicians, nurses, and home health aides) making house calls, care from

caregiver A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

s such as family members, and patient

self-care Self-care has been defined as the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, ...

. *

Primary care Primary care is a model of health care that supports first-contact, accessible, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated person-focused care. It aims to optimise population health and reduce disparities across the groups by ensuring equitable ...

is meant to be the main kind of care in general, and ideally a medical home that unifies care across referred providers. The current trend in this area is digitalization aiming to ensure open access to information about therapy, issues, and recent progress on biomedical research. *

Secondary care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is deliver ...

is care provided by medical specialists and other health professionals who generally do not have first contact with patients, for example, cardiologists,

urologists Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and ''-logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary system and the reproductive organs. Orga ...

and

dermatologists Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the Human skin, skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A List of dermatologists, ...

. A patient reaches secondary care as a next step from

, typically by provider referral although sometimes by patient self-initiative. According to a systematic review, fields for development secondary care from patients' viewpoint may be classified into four domains that should usefully guide future improvement of this care stage: "barriers to care, communication, coordination, and relationships and personal value". *

Tertiary care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delive ...

is specialized consultative care, usually for inpatients and on referral from a primary or secondary health professional, in a facility that has personnel and facilities for advanced medical investigation and treatment, such as a tertiary referral hospital. * Follow-up care is additional care during or after convalescence. Aftercare is generally synonymous with follow-up care. One of the key areas of development–Telehealth, including non-clinical services: provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education–offers opportunities to improve access to care, increase provider and patient productivity through reduced travel, potential expenses savings, and the ability to expand services. *

End-of-life care End-of-life care is health care provided in the time leading up to a person's death. End-of-life care can be provided in the hours, days, or months before a person dies and encompasses care and support for a person's mental and emotional needs, phy ...

is care near the end of one's life. It often includes the following: **

Palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

supportive care Symptomatic treatment, supportive care, supportive therapy, or palliative treatment is any medical therapy of a disease that only affects its symptoms, not the underlying cause. It is usually aimed at reducing the signs and symptoms for the co ...

, most especially (but not necessarily) near the end of life. **

Hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

care is palliative care very near the end of life when

cure A cure is a substance or procedure that resolves a medical condition. This may include a medication, a surgery, surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's suffering or achieves a state of heali ...

is very unlikely. Its main goal is comfort, both physical and mental. A systematic meta review showed that the most cost-efficient one relates to home-based end-of-life care, including reduced overall "resource use and improved patient and carer outcomes".

Lines of therapy

Treatment decisions often follow formal or informal

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of Rigour#Mathematics, mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algo ...

ic guidelines. Treatment options can often be ranked or prioritized into lines of therapy: first-line therapy, second-line therapy, third-line therapy, and so on. First-line therapy (sometimes referred to as induction therapy, primary therapy, or front-line therapy) is the first therapy that will be tried. Its priority over other options is usually either: (1) formally recommended on the basis of

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human subject research, human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel v ...

evidence for its best-available combination of efficacy, safety, and tolerability or (2) chosen based on the clinical experience of the physician. If a first-line therapy either fails to resolve the issue or produces intolerable

side effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect of the use of a medicinal drug or other treatment, usually adverse but sometimes beneficial, that is unintended. Herbal and traditional medicines also have side effects. A drug or procedure usually use ...

s, additional (second-line) therapies may be substituted or added to the treatment regimen, followed by third-line therapies, and so on. An example of a context in which the formalization of treatment algorithms and the ranking of lines of therapy is very extensive is chemotherapy regimens. Because of the great difficulty in successfully treating some forms of cancer, one line after another may be tried. In

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

the count of therapy lines may reach 10 or even 20. Often multiple therapies may be tried simultaneously (

combination therapy In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are ...

or polytherapy). Thus combination chemotherapy is also called polychemotherapy, whereas chemotherapy with one agent at a time is called single-agent therapy or monotherapy. Single-agent therapy is a care algorithm that focuses on one specific drug or procedure. It utilizes a single therapeutic agent rather than combining multiple ones. Multiagent Therapy is a treatment by two or more drugs or procedures. Comprehensive therapy combines various forms of medical treatment to provide the most effective care for patients.

Adjuvant therapy Adjuvant therapy, also known as adjunct therapy, adjuvant care, or augmentation therapy, is a therapy that is given in addition to the primary or initial therapy to maximize its effectiveness. The surgeries and complex treatment regimens used in ...

is therapy given in addition to the primary, main, or initial treatment, but simultaneously (as opposed to second-line therapy).

Neoadjuvant therapy Neoadjuvant therapy is the administration of therapeutic agents before a main treatment. One example is neoadjuvant hormone therapy prior to radical radiotherapy for adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Neoadjuvant therapy aims to reduce the size o ...

is therapy that is begun before the main therapy. Thus one can consider surgical excision of a tumor as the first-line therapy for a certain type and stage of cancer even though radiotherapy is used before it; the radiotherapy is neoadjuvant (chronologically first but not primary in the sense of the main event).

Premedication Premedication is using medication before some other therapy (usually surgery or chemotherapy) to prepare for that forthcoming therapy. Typical examples include premedicating with a sedative or analgesic before surgery; using prophylactic (preven ...

is conceptually not far from this, but the words are not interchangeable; cytotoxic drugs to put a tumor "on the ropes" before surgery delivers the "knockout punch" are called neoadjuvant chemotherapy, not premedication, whereas things like anesthetics or prophylactic antibiotics before dental surgery are called premedication. Step therapy or stepladder therapy is a specific type of prioritization by lines of therapy. It is controversial in American health care because unlike conventional

decision-making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be ...

about what constitutes first-line, second-line, and third-line therapy, which in the U.S. reflects safety and efficacy first and cost only according to the patient's wishes, step therapy attempts to mix cost containment by someone other than the patient (third-party payers) into the algorithm.

Therapy freedom Therapy freedom is the freedom of physicians to apply whichever therapy their medical knowledge makes them believe to be appropriate. That often means: # Physician have the legal right to prescribe an unlicensed drug. In the 1960s, some of today's ...

refers to prescription for use of an unlicensed medicine (without a marketing authorization issued by the licensing authority of the country)Gore RK, Chugh PD, Tripathi C, Lhamo Y, Gautam S. (2017). "Pediatric off-label and unlicensed drug use and its implications". ''Current clinical pharmacology'', 12(1), 18-25. https://doi.org/10.2174/1574884712666170317161935 and the negotiation between

individual and group rights Individual rights, also known as natural rights, are rights held by individuals by virtue of being human. Some theists believe individual rights are bestowed by God. An individual right is a moral claim to freedom of action. Group rights, also k ...

are involved. A comprehensive research in Australia, Czech Republic, India, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Serbia, Sweden, UK, and USA showed that the rate of the unlicensed medicine prescription has been reported to range from 0.3 to 35% depending on the country. In many jurisdictions, therapy freedom is limited to cases of no treatment existing that is both well-established and more efficacious.

By intent

By intervention

* Invasive therapy is achieved either through surgery or through the use of drugs. Medical invasive treatments can be divided into two main categories: pharmacotherapy and surgery. * Noninvasive therapies are medical treatments that do not involve entry into the body. It can be classified into five main categories: neurotherapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, radiation therapy, and psychotherapy.

By therapy composition

Treatments can be classified according to the method of treatment:

By
matter In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic pa ...

* by

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

pharmacotherapy Pharmacotherapy, also known as pharmacological therapy or drug therapy, is defined as medical treatment that utilizes one or more pharmaceutical drugs to improve ongoing symptoms (symptomatic relief), treat the underlying condition, or act as a p ...

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

(also, ''medical therapy'' often means specifically pharmacotherapy) * by

medical device A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

s: implantation **

cardiac resynchronization therapy Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT or CRT-P) is the insertion of electrodes in the left and right ventricles of the heart, as well as on occasion the right atrium, to treat heart failure by coordinating the function of the left and right ...

* by specific

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

s: molecular therapy (although most drugs are specific molecules, ''molecular medicine'' refers in particular to medicine relying on

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

) ** by specific biomolecular targets:

targeted therapy Targeted therapy or molecularly targeted therapy is one of the major modalities of medical treatment (pharmacotherapy) for cancer, others being hormonal therapy (oncology), hormonal therapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy. As a form of molecular medici ...

*** molecular chaperone therapy ** by

chelation Chelation () is a type of bonding of ions and their molecules to metal ions. It involves the formation or presence of two or more separate coordinate bonds between a polydentate (multiple bonded) ligand and a single central metal atom. These l ...

chelation therapy Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body. Chelation therapy has a long history of use in clinical toxicology and remains in use for some very specific medic ...

* by specific

chemical element A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...

s: ** by

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

s: *** by

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals is a controversial and ambiguous term for metallic elements with relatively h ...

: **** by

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

: chrysotherapy (aurotherapy) **** by

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

-containing drugs: platin therapy *** by biometals **** by

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

: lithium therapy **** by

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

: potassium supplementation **** by

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 ...

: magnesium supplementation **** by

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

: chromium supplementation; phonemic neurological hypochromium therapy **** by

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

: copper supplementation ** by

nonmetal In the context of the periodic table, a nonmetal is a chemical element that mostly lacks distinctive metallic properties. They range from colorless gases like hydrogen to shiny crystals like iodine. Physically, they are usually lighter (less ...

s: *** by diatomic

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

oxygen therapy Oxygen therapy, also referred to as supplemental oxygen, is the use of oxygen as medical treatment. Supplemental oxygen can also refer to the use of oxygen enriched air at altitude. Acute indications for therapy include hypoxemia (low blood o ...

, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (

hyperbaric medicine Hyperbaric medicine is medical treatment in which an increase in barometric pressure of typically air or oxygen is used. The immediate effects include reducing the size of gas emboli and raising the partial pressures of the gases present. Initial ...

) **** transdermal continuous oxygen therapy *** by triatomic oxygen (

ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

): ozone therapy *** by

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic, Monatomic ion, monatomic Ion#Anions and cations, anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose ...

: fluoride therapy *** by other gases: medical gas therapy * by

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

: **

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and Physical therapy, physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and ...

aquatic therapy Aquatic therapy refers to treatments and exercises performed in water for relaxation, fitness, physical rehabilitation, and other therapeutic benefit. Typically a qualified aquatic therapist gives constant attendance to a person receiving tre ...

** rehydration therapy ***

oral rehydration therapy Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) also officially known as Oral Rehydration Solution is a type of fluid replacement used to prevent and treat dehydration, especially due to diarrhea. It involves drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salt ...

water cure (therapy) Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The t ...

* by biological materials (biogenic substances, biomolecules, biotic materials, natural products), including their chemical synthesis, synthetic equivalents: biopharmaceutical, biotherapy ** by whole organisms *** by viruses: virotherapy *** by bacteriophages: phage therapy *** by animal interaction: ''see #By animal interaction, animal interaction section'' ** by constituents or products of organisms *** by plant parts or extracts (but many drugs are derived from plants, even when the term ''phytotherapy'' is not used) **** scientific type: phytotherapy **** traditional (prescientific) type: herbalism *** by animal parts: quackery involving shark fins, tiger parts, and so on, often driving threatened species, threat or endangered species, endangerment of species *** by genes: gene therapy **** gene therapy for epilepsy **** gene therapy for osteoarthritis **** gene therapy for color blindness **** gene therapy of the human retina **** gene therapy in Parkinson's disease *** by epigenetics: epigenetic therapy *** by proteins: protein therapy (but many drugs are proteins despite not being called protein therapy) *** by enzymes: enzyme replacement therapy *** by hormones: hormone therapy **** hormonal therapy (oncology) **** hormone replacement therapy ***** estrogen replacement therapy ***** androgen replacement therapy ***** hormone replacement therapy (menopause) ***** transgender hormone therapy ****** feminizing hormone therapy ****** masculinizing hormone therapy **** antihormone therapy ***** androgen deprivation therapy *** by whole cell (biology), cells: cell therapy (cytotherapy) **** by stem cells: stem cell therapy **** by white blood cell, immune cells: ''see immune system products below'' *** by immune system products: immunotherapy, host modulatory therapy **** by white blood cell, immune cells: ***** T-cell vaccination ***** cell transfer therapy ***** autologous immune enhancement therapy ***** TK cell therapy **** by humoral immunity, humoral immune factors: antibody therapy ***** by whole serum (blood), serum: serotherapy, including antiserum therapy ***** by antibody, immunoglobulins: immunoglobulin therapy ****** by monoclonal antibody, monoclonal antibodies: monoclonal antibody therapy ** by urine: urine therapy (some scientific forms; many prescientific or pseudoscientific forms) ** by food and dieting, dietary choices: *** medical nutrition therapy *** grape therapy (quackery) * by salt (chemistry), salts (but many drugs are the salts of organic acids, even when drug therapy is not called by names reflecting that) ** by salt (chemistry), salts in the air *** by natural dry salt air: "taking the cure" in desert locales (especially common in prescientific medicine; for example, one 19th-century way to treat tuberculosis) *** by artificial dry salt air: **** low-humidity forms of speleotherapy **** negative air ionization therapy *** by salt air, moist salt air: **** by natural moist salt air: seaside resort, seaside cure (especially common in prescientific medicine) **** by artificial moist salt air: water vapor forms of speleotherapy ** by salt (chemistry), salts in the water *** by mineral water: spa town, spa cure ("taking the waters") (especially common in prescientific medicine) *** by seawater: seaside resort, seaside cure (especially common in prescientific medicine) * by aroma: aromatherapy * by other materials with mechanism of action unknown ** by occlusion with duct tape: duct tape occlusion therapy

By energy

* by electric energy as electric current: electrotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy ** Transcranial magnetic stimulation ** Vagus nerve stimulation * by magnetic energy: ** magnet therapy ** pulsed electromagnetic field therapy ** magnetic resonance therapy * by electromagnetic radiation (EMR): ** by light: light therapy (phototherapy) *** ultraviolet light therapy **** PUVA therapy *** photodynamic therapy **** photothermal therapy **** cytoluminescent therapy *** blood irradiation therapy *** by darkness: dark therapy *** by lasers: laser therapy **** low level laser therapy ** by gamma rays: radiosurgery *** radiosurgery#Gamma Knife, Gamma Knife radiosurgery *** stereotactic radiation therapy *** cobalt therapy ** by radiation generally: radiation therapy (radiotherapy) *** intraoperative radiation therapy *** by EMR particles: **** particle therapy ***** proton therapy ***** electron therapy ****** intraoperative electron radiation therapy ****** Auger therapy ***** neutron therapy ****** fast neutron therapy ****** neutron capture therapy of cancer *** by radioisotopes emitting EMR: **** by nuclear medicine **** by brachytherapy ** quackery type: electromagnetic therapy (alternative medicine) * by Mechanics, mechanical: manual therapy as massotherapy and therapy by exercise as in physical therapy ** inversion therapy * by sound: ** by ultrasound: *** ultrasonic lithotripsy **** extracorporeal shockwave therapy *** sonodynamic therapy ** by music: music therapy * by temperature ** by heat: heat therapy (thermotherapy) *** by moderately elevated ambient temperatures: hyperthermia therapy **** by dry warm surroundings: Waon therapy **** by dry or humid warm surroundings: sauna, including infrared sauna, for sweat therapy ** by cold: *** by extreme cold to specific tissue volumes: cryotherapy *** by ice and compression: cold compression therapy *** by ambient cold: **** hypothermia therapy for neonatal encephalopathy (in newborns) **** targeted temperature management (therapeutic hypothermia, protective hypothermia) ** by hot and cold alternation: contrast bath therapy

By procedure and human interaction

* Surgery * by counseling, such as

(''see also: list of psychotherapies'') ** systemic therapy ** by group psychotherapy * by cognitive behavioral therapy ** by cognitive therapy ** by behaviour therapy *** by dialectical behavior therapy ** by cognitive emotional behavioral therapy * by cognitive rehabilitation therapy * by family therapy * by education ** by psychoeducation ** by information therapy * by speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, vision therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic or acupuncture * by Lifestyle medicine, lifestyle modifications, such as avoiding Junk food, unhealthy food or maintaining a predictable sleep schedule * by coaching

By animal interaction

* by pets, assistance animals, or working animals: animal-assisted therapy ** by horses: equine therapy, hippotherapy ** by dogs: pet therapy with therapy dogs, including grief therapy dogs ** by cats: pet therapy with therapy cats * by fish: ichthyotherapy (wading with fish), aquarium therapy (watching fish) * by maggots: maggot therapy * by worms: ** by internal worms: helminthic therapy ** by leeches: leech therapy * by immersion therapy, immersion: animal bath

By meditation

* by mindfulness: mindfulness-based cognitive therapy

By reading (process), reading

* by bibliotherapy

By creativity

* by expression: expressive therapy ** by writing: writing therapy *** journal therapy * by play (activity), play: play therapy * by art: art therapy ** sensory art therapy ** comic book therapy * by gardening: horticultural therapy * by dance: dance therapy * by drama: drama therapy * by recreation: recreational therapy * by music: music therapy

By sleeping and waking

* by deep sleep: deep sleep therapy * by sleep deprivation: wake therapy

References

External links

*
"Chapter Nine of the Book of Medicine Dedicated to Mansur, with the Commentary of Sillanus de Nigris"
is a Latin book by Rhazes, from 1483, that is known for its ninth chapter, which is about therapeutics {{Set index article Therapy Drug discovery Health policy Medicinal chemistry Pharmaceutical sciences