The main types of therapies

Since ancient times, various methods and types of therapies have been used to improve the human body. Some of the therapeutic methods over time and the development of medical science have lost their significance, others, on the contrary, have received scientific substantiation and wide application in practice.

The concept of therapy

The term has ancient Greek roots and is translated as "treatment", "withdrawal". Therapy in the narrow and broad sense of the word means treating diseases and eliminating their symptoms. The second meaning of this term is a large section of medicine, the scope of which includes not only the treatment of pathologies of organs of the human body, but also their study and diagnosis. Therapy as a medical discipline studies a wide range of diseases of internal organs and systems: respiratory, blood circulation, digestion, metabolism, urination, etc. Therefore, general practitioners have the most extensive information on human health.

Classification of therapies

Modern medicine uses different types of therapy, which are very difficult to present in the form of a single classification. Types of treatment are divided into groups taking into account a number of criteria, let's name the main ones:

• Approach to treatment (etiotropic, pathogenetic and symptomatic therapy).
• The method of medical care (drug therapy, surgery and types of intensive care).
• Scientific validity (traditional medicine and folk).
• Degree of innovation (conservative medicine, new and experimental types of treatment).
• Area of discipline (psychotherapy, gastroenterology, cardiology, children's therapy, gynecology, infectious therapy, etc.).

Drug therapy

Many diseases in the vast majority require medical treatment. The following types of drug therapy are distinguished:

• Etiotropic. It is aimed at eradicating the causes of the disease - pathogenic microorganisms. The action of etiotropic drugs is the destruction or suppression of pathogens. This group of medicines includes antibiotics, antiviral and antiprotozoal drugs, sulfonamides. Etiotropic therapy includes several consecutive stages: identification of the pathogen, determining the degree of sensitivity to the active substance of the drug, the purpose of treatment. An example of etiotropic therapy is the treatment with bactericidal preparations of pyelonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys caused by pathogenic microbes, in particular E. coli).
• Pathogenetic therapy. What kinds of diseases would not arise in a patient, pathogenetic treatment is aimed at correcting functional disorders, improving exchange mechanisms, stimulating immunity. It is used in those cases when the disease is caused not by an external pathogenic agent, but by a violation of the work of an organ. Example: maintenance therapy for diabetes mellitus, which consists in the periodic administration of a dose of insulin in the patient's blood to compensate for its deficiency due to inadequate pancreas production. List of pathogenetic drugs are drugs that affect the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, stimulating digestion, normalizing metabolism, as well as diuretics. Varieties of pathogenetic therapy are acupuncture, lysotherapy, tissue, immunostimulating, etc.
• Symptomatic does not eliminate the cause of the pathology, it only alleviates the symptoms of the disease. It can be used in addition to etiotropic and / or pathogenetic methods of treatment or separately, for example, in the last stages of oncological diseases to alleviate the patient's pain. The arsenal of symptomatic therapy includes painkillers and antispasmodics, antipyretic.

Conservative therapy

Traditional, officially recognized medicine uses different types of treatment: therapy with medicinal products of chemical and biological nature, physical methods.

Chemical and biological methods consist of exposure to the patient's body with chemically synthesized substances, medicines on a natural basis, and immunostimulating drugs.

The physical methods of conservative therapy include a number of non-pharmacological techniques, which are often of an auxiliary nature. These include:

• Therapeutic massage, including all types of manual therapy;
• LFK - a complex of physical exercises for restoring the functions of the musculoskeletal system of a person;
• Hydrotherapy: douches, baths, Charcot's shower, wraps, etc .;
• Hardware physiotherapy consisting in the impact on the patient of radiation and electromagnetic waves: laser therapy, electrophoresis, radiotherapy, inductothermy, UHF therapy, phonophoresis.

Surgical therapy

Within the curative program, there is often a need for surgical intervention. Surgical therapy goes beyond the traditional drug treatment, but since it is also designed to eliminate pathology, it can well be perceived as one of the types of therapy. The method is based on the separation and connection of tissues of the human body with the help of special techniques and tools. It should be noted that the surgical operation almost always has medical support, but the drugs used are not needed to eradicate the disease, but to ensure the technical execution of the procedure (anesthesia and analgesics, neuroleptics, tranquilizers, hormonal drugs).

Therapy with folk remedies

Traditional medicine has passed a completely different path than the traditional one. It is based on the centuries-old experience of mankind in the field of the treatment of all ailments. Traditional medicine combines the types of therapies, based on the use of any handy tools and components of natural origin in the form of infusions of herbs, roots, decoctions, compresses, inhalations, etc. Often the methods of folk therapy have no scientific justification, and therefore the effect of many drugs is questionable Or is completely absent. The undoubted advantage of such therapy is the availability and cheapness of medicines.

Psychotherapy

If the bodily ailments learned to treat in ancient times, then the medicine thought about the danger of mental illnesses not so long ago. Until the 18th century, mental disorders were considered to be a purely personal drama of the patient, and at the most that physicians of that time could offer is isolation of the patient from society. Later, science found out that mental illness can and should be treated. The main types of therapy in psychiatry are:

• Cognitive psychotherapy is the most practiced today. The method consists in creating conditions for the patient's reassessment of the factors that led to depressive states. According to the concept, the specialist should find out what thoughts of the patient caused the psychological disorder, and create the prerequisites for the formation in the subconscious of the patient of new, more rational thoughts.
• Hypnosis is a new method of psychotherapy, which until the end of the XIX century was not taken seriously. There are situations when a person burdened with heavy realities subconsciously puts the block on their emotions, feelings, and to reveal, and most importantly - to cure a psychological disorder in this situation is extremely difficult. In order to help the patient abstract from reality, they resort to clinical hypnosis - the state of a half-sleep patient, allowing a dialogue between the hypnotist and the hypnotized and revealing memories or facts from the life of the latter that led to mental disorders.
• Psychosocial therapy, which has many varieties: family psychotherapy, personal development trainings, artistic and dance therapy, personal psychoanalysis, etc.
• Treatment with antidepressants and psychotropic drugs is often combined with other therapeutic methods.

New therapies

Medicine as a science does not stand still, research is conducted all over the world every day and new methods for treating a wide range of diseases are being developed. Tested and recognized therapies have occupied their niche in practicing medicine. Here are some of them:

• The method of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) - one of the newest methods of psychotherapy - emerged in the late 20th century. The basis is the practical techniques of well-known authors and specialists in the field of communication. Often, NLP is practiced in trainings and seminars to improve personal qualities.
• Art therapy - has become widespread in the last century and as a therapeutic technique uses painting and drawing sessions. This is a real find for those who want to know themselves and at the same time improve their psycho-emotional state.
• Cryosacral therapy - was born at the beginning of the last century and is aimed at treating complex conditions of the human body caused by abnormal biorhythms. As it turned out, the skull consists of a lot of bones that do not ossify completely at the junction points, but allow the cranium to rhythmically decrease and increase in size, thus making "respiratory" movements. It was also found that the skull of a healthy person per minute performs 6-10 cycles, a violation of this cycle leads to a variety of consequences (immune and psychoneurological disorders, discomfort, anxiety, toned muscle disorders, etc.). In this situation, the specialist corrects the biorhythm using various manual techniques, some of which can be characterized as a barely perceptible touch to the patient's head.

Non-standard therapies

The time of conservative methods of treatment has passed. Today there are so many types of therapies that you can easily get confused in their diversity. Mankind began to use everything that at least somehow is able to improve health and physiological state. Among these types of treatment there are those who not only do not have a scientific justification, but also cause surprise:

• Gryazetapia. Patients are covered with mud, which is considered curative and positively affects the condition of the skin, joints and even the whole body.
• Hirudotherapy, the main therapeutic means of which is the application of live leeches to the patient's body.
• Apitherapy - treatment of bee products: honey, wax, propolis.
• Aromatherapy - the patient inhales pairs of essential oils that have a bactericidal and soothing effect.
• Hobby: embroidery, drawing, dancing, etc.
• Pet therapy - physical and emotional contact with pets.

Experimental therapy

Unfortunately, modern medicine is not yet able to help get rid of all the ailments. Diseases that are not fully understood and from which there are still no medications are, of course, oncology, AIDS, complex genetic pathologies. Nevertheless, scientists are actively working in this direction and even achieved some success. In the field of cancer, a number of techniques have been developed that are in the testing phase:

• Molecular therapy is used to treat myeloid leukemia. The main agent is the antibody herceptin, which helps suppress cancer cells.
• Laser surgery - laser exposure to a tumor.
• Photodynamic therapy - irradiation of the affected organ with a laser beam after treatment with photosensitizing substances.
• Gene therapy is the replacement of defective genes.

Gene therapy opens the possibility of treating not only cancers, but also hepatitis C, Embola virus, autism, hereditary blindness, hemophilia and many other pathologies that until now were considered incurable.

Summary

Summarizing the above, I want to say that medicine has achieved colossal results in the field of treating a variety of diseases - both physiological and mental. , наряду с которыми появились и народные, в том числе и необычные с точки зрения традиционной медицины методики. A variety of scientifically validated and proven types of therapies were developed, along with which there were folk, including unusual from the point of view of traditional medicine techniques. Nevertheless, not all diseases are successfully treated, and the main therapeutic discoveries in medicine are yet to come.