Therapy

Therapy is the most integrative aspect which is in fact a "consciousness-based" approach in which the bottom line of the mind is consciousness itself, accessed by transcending mental activity to its simplest ground state. This directly contrasts with "unconscious-based" approaches that hold the basis of conscious mind is the unconscious, such as analytic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Although not presented as a specific therapeutic approach, interventions associated with this Vedic approach have extensive support in the applied research literature. Comparisons with contemporary therapies further show that the simplicity, subtlety, and holistic nature of the Vedic approach represent a significant advance over approaches which have overlooked the fundamental ground state of the mind.

Therapy, also called psychotherapy or counseling, is the process of meeting with a therapist to resolve problematic behaviors, beliefs, feelings, relationship issues etc. In medicine, therapy is the same thing as treatment, and doctors might refer to any type of medicine or program designed to address a patient's condition.

Therapy is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a diagnosis. Among psychologists and other mental health professionals including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and clinical social workers, the term may refer specifically to psychotherapy or talking therapies. The English word therapy comes via Latin therapīa from Greek: θεραπεία and literally means "curing" or "healing"

Treatment decisions often follow formal or informal algorithmic 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 called 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 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 effects, 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 the count of therapy lines may reach 10 or even 20.

Often multiple therapies may be tried simultaneously (combination therapy or polytherapy). Thus combination chemotherapy is also called polychemotherapy, whereas chemotherapy with one agent at a time is called single-agent therapy or monotherapy.

SOME COMMON FORMS OF THERAPIES-

A preventive therapy or prophylactic therapy is a treatment that is intended to prevent a medical condition from occurring. For example, many vaccines prevent infectious diseases.

An abortive therapy is a treatment that is intended to stop a medical condition from progressing any further. A medication taken at the earliest signs of a disease, such as at the very symptoms of a migraine headache, is an abortive therapy. A consolidation therapy is one given to consolidate the gains from induction therapy. In cancer, this means chasing after any malignant cells that may be left.

A maintenance therapy is one taken during disease remission to prevent relapse. A supportive therapy (such as supportive psychotherapy) is one that does not treat or improve the underlying condition, but instead increases the patient's comfort.[3]Supportive therapy may be palliative therapy (palliative care). Therapy may be categorized as having curative intent (when it is possible to eliminate the disease) orpalliative intent (when eliminating the disease is impossible and the focus shifts to minimizing the distress that it causes).

A salvage therapy is a therapy tried after others have failed; it may be a "last-line" therapy. An investigational therapy is an experimental one. Use of experimental therapies must be ethically justified, because by definition they raise the question of standard of care. Physicians have autonomy to provide empirical care (such as off-label care) according to their experience and clinical judgment, but the autonomy has limits that preclude quackery. Thus it may be necessary to design a clinical trial around the new therapy and to use the therapy only per a formal protocol. Sometimes shorthand phrases such as "treated on protocol" imply not just "treated according to a plan" but specifically "treated with investigational therapy".