Therapy Meant Attendance Before It Meant Treatment
Therapy is treatment intended to heal. The Greek word meant service or attendance, which is a fair description of the work.
Therapy is treatment intended to relieve or heal. The Greek *therapeia* meant service or attendance on someone, which is a truer description of most therapy than the word *cure*. English now uses it for everything from physiotherapy to psychotherapy, and the suffix *-therapy* attaches freely.
- Treatment for a condition. *Physical therapy.*
- Psychological treatment. *She is in therapy.*
- Something soothing. *Gardening is my therapy.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | therapy | Speech therapy. |
| Plural | therapies | New therapies. |
| Person | therapist | A trained therapist. |
| Adjective | therapeutic | A therapeutic dose. |
| Related | therapeutics | Clinical therapeutics. |
How it is used in a sentence
- He started therapy after the accident.Physical or psychological, from context.
- The dose is below the therapeutic level.Pharmacology.
- Cooking is therapeutic.Informal, meaning calming.
Kinds of therapy
- Physiotherapy — movement and physical function
- Occupational therapy — everyday activities and independence
- Speech and language therapy — communication and swallowing
- Psychotherapy — talking therapies of many schools
- Radiotherapy — treatment using radiation
From Greek *therapeia*, service or medical treatment, from *therapeuein*, to attend or treat. The English word arrived through medical Latin in the nineteenth century.
Therapist or counsellor?
The titles overlap and are regulated differently by country. In several places neither is legally protected, so qualifications matter more than the word.
What does therapeutic mean in medicine?
Producing a beneficial effect. The therapeutic range of a drug is the dose high enough to work and low enough to be safe.