Read here which common treatment methods are available, what you can do yourself and when you should definitely consult a doctor. For whom is which treatment therapy suitable, how does it work, what do you have to consider in the preparation and what are the risks and side effects?
Therapies: Definition
In general, therapy means the treatment of a disease. The term summarizes all measures that alleviate or cure disabilities, illnesses or injuries. A prerequisite for medical treatment is a prior diagnosis, in which a doctor has detected a disease. An important component of most therapies is the trusting communication between doctor and patient.
Doctors usually treat with therapeutic procedures, the effectiveness of which has been verified by scientific methods and which are considered recognized by medicine. This is also known as evidence-based medicine (EBM).
Therapeutic goals
Therapy goals can be very different. They usually depend on the disease and the individual needs and personality of the patient. The most common are:
- Causal therapy: eliminating the cause of the disease
- Symptomatic therapy: elimination of existing symptoms without considering the cause
- Curative therapy: curing a disease by eliminating causes and symptoms
- Supportive therapy: supports other treatment, for example by alleviating or curing accompanying symptoms
- Preventive therapy: prevents diseases, such as vaccinations or prenatal care
- Palliative therapy: aims to alleviate symptoms such as pain in advanced, usually incurable diseases or to reduce other negative consequences (palliation). The quality of life of the patient should be improved and, if possible, a prolongation of life should be achieved. Palliative treatment measures are usually used when all curative therapy options for a disease have been unsuccessful. Doctors then also say that the patient is out of therapy.
Therapies: Forms
Physicians generally divide therapies into surgical and conservative treatments.
Surgical therapy is a surgical procedure. The goal is to treat a disease by penetrating the body, what doctors call “invasive”. Subsequently, postoperative therapy may be necessary to support wound healing or relieve pain. Operations are performed not only in surgery, but also in other medical disciplines, such as gynecology or ophthalmology.
Plastic surgery is a branch of surgery. Their focus is on restoring functions or altered appearance, especially of the skin, with the aim of improving or positively adjusting the patient’s attitude to life.
Doctors distinguish between four major areas of plastic surgery:
- Aesthetic surgery: It includes shape-changing procedures, usually without medical necessity and justified by the patient’s desire to correct his appearance
- Reconstructive surgery: It is also called reconstructive surgery and restores tissue shape and function after injury, illness or tumor surgery.
- Hand surgery: It includes the complicated structure of the hand, as well as the entire arm, as muscles and tendons, nerves and blood vessels run here and lead to the hand.
- Burn surgery: It deals with the acute and intensive treatment of burns and their consequences. Reconstructive surgery is also often used here.
Wherever possible in surgery, gentle, minimally invasive procedures with as little scarring as possible are used. Conservative therapies:
Conservative therapies cure a disease without surgery. They are usually gentler. In addition to other specialists, surgeons also treat their patients with conservative methods.
These include, but are not limited to:
- drug therapies
- physical therapies such as exercise therapies or light therapy
- dietary therapies, i.e. the patient changes his diet
- Psychotherapies
Conservative treatments and surgeries can also complement each other, which is the case, for example, in cancer therapy.
Therapies of mental illnesses: psychotherapies
If someone no longer feels well mentally and mentally and is no longer able to deal with stress and strains in life, one speaks of a mental illness. As a rule, the person concerned is then no longer able to master his everyday life. Without a healthy psyche, a person cannot be properly efficient. However, most of us are between mentally healthy and ill. Total mental health does not exist.
Psychotherapy thus means “treatment of the soul”. The goal of psychotherapy is to cure mental illnesses as much as possible or to alleviate the symptoms. Psychotherapies may only be carried out by psychological psychotherapists, child and adolescent psychotherapists or specialists in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Which mental illnesses there are, as well as detailed articles on the individual clinical pictures can be found under Mental illnesses.
Psychotherapies can be divided into time:
- Short-term therapy: It is carried out over a short, limited period of time. This is not firmly defined and depends on the corresponding therapy method. As a rule, experts speak of a short-term therapy if it consists of a maximum of 25 individual therapy hours or extends over a maximum period of six months.
- Long-term therapy: Psychotherapists treat over a longer period of time. Here, too, the time span is not fixed and also depends on the corresponding therapy method. It can range from one to several years or comprise at least 50 sessions.
- Long-term therapy: This form of treatment is permanent, i.e. designed for the entire lifetime of a patient. Often experts also use the term as a synonym for long-term therapy.
Psychotherapy is carried out in different forms, for example as individual or group therapy.
In individual therapy, the patient is the focus of the therapy and the doctor’s attention is focused solely on him. The procedure depends on the disease, the therapeutic concept and the individual concerns of the patient.
Group therapies take place in very different group sizes. Psychotherapists often use this form of therapy for depression, burnout, life crises or anxiety disorders. When composing a group, therapists pay attention to disease-specific patient information in order to take into account other characteristics of the patients in addition to diagnoses. Participants with similar problems or symptoms can exchange ideas well. They feel understood by people in a similar situation and receive practical tips. In the best case, participants even develop solutions together and try them out.
Therapies: Patient education
In patient education, also called medical education, a attending physician pursues his legal duty to inform the patient. This is specified in the Patients’ Rights Act. He must inform the patient orally and/or in writing about planned therapeutic or diagnostic measures. As a rule, the physician calmly explains to you which treatment options are available and considers together with you which is the best measure for you personally.
In the conversation, the doctor will explain to you, among other things:
- Type of treatment
- Circumference
- Expiration
- expected consequences and risks of the measures
- Necessity of the procedure
- Urgency
- Advantages and disadvantages of therapy and possible alternatives
- Prospects of success of the measures
- Possible costs incurred by the patient, such as so-called individual health services (IGeL)
If a patient refuses treatment, it is very important to be informed by the doctor about the chances of success and possible alternatives. Doctors are even legally obliged to educate patients about alternatives.