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therapy

UK/ˈθɛɹ.ə.pi/US/ˈθɛɹ.ə.pi/
nounB2Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,619 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: therapies

Therapy is regular treatment, for the body or the mind, over a longer time. Physical therapy, in therapy, therapy session.

In Britain, therapy without qualification usually means talking therapy, and physiotherapy is the physical kind — in America physical therapy is the standard term. Talking therapies have measurable effects for anxiety and depression and are recommended alongside or before medication. Note therapist, therapeutic; and that the Greek means service or attendance.

Photo Credit: Content Providers: CDC/Charles Farmer · Public domain

Definitions of therapy

  1. 1nountherapyRegular treatment for the body or the mind.B2

    “After the accident, she needed months of therapy to walk again.”

therapy is a course of treatment.

Where it comes from

Greek therapeia means service or medical attendance, from therapeuein, to attend or treat. Therapist and therapeutic come from the same service.

  1. New Latin

    therapīa

  2. English, today

    therapy

Built from

  • θεραπεύω · Ancient Greek — to serve, treat medically

Borrowed from New Latin therapīa. From New Latin therapīa, from Ancient Greek θεραπεία (“service, medical treatment”), from θεραπεύω (“to serve, treat medically”) -ία.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Practise this word

therapy in the wild

  • CBT is a "problem-focused" and "action-oriented" form of therapy.

    Cognitive behavioral therapy

  • Most common cancer types can be treated with radiation therapy in some way.

    Radiation therapy

  • Although music therapy has been established as a profession only relatively recently, the connection between music and therapy is not new.

    Music therapy

  • Chelation therapy is a medical procedure that involves the administration of chelating agents to remove heavy metals from the body.

    Chelation therapy

  • Chelation therapy must be administered with care as it has a number of possible side effects, including death.

    Chelation therapy

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the therapīa family

therapy

therapy — used about once every 179 pages · #1,619 · point at the bar for the others

  • physiotherapist