Therapy facts for kids

Therapy, also known as treatment, is what people do to help fix a health problem. This can be for problems with your body or your mind. When someone is sick or hurt, a doctor might figure out what's wrong. This is called a medical diagnosis. Then, the doctor will suggest a therapy to help the person get better.

Therapy can be many things. It might involve taking medications (like pills). It could also be surgery, which is an operation. Sometimes, therapy means changing your diet or how you eat.

A person whose job is to give therapy is called a therapist. There are many different kinds of therapists. For example:

• Group therapist (helps groups of people together)
• Hypnotherapist (uses hypnosis to help)
• Occupational therapist (helps with daily activities)
• Physiotherapist (helps with movement and pain)
• Psychotherapist (helps with mental and emotional problems)
• Speech therapist (helps with speaking and communication)

How Therapy Works

When someone gets medical treatment, there are a few possible results:

• Sometimes, the treatment might not change anything.
• A therapeutic effect means the treatment worked well. It had a good result.
• An adverse effect is when the treatment causes a bad result.
• A side-effect is an unwanted effect from the therapy. For example, taking medicine can cause many side effects. These might include headaches, feeling sick to your stomach, a rash on your skin, or blurred vision. Radiotherapy, which uses radiation, can also cause side effects like feeling sick or getting a skin rash.

Related Health Topics

• Chemotherapy (a type of drug treatment)
• Medicine (the science of healing)
• Medication (drugs used for treatment)
• Pharmacotheraphy (treatment using medicines)
• Radiotherapy (treatment using radiation)

See also

In Spanish: Tratamiento (medicina) para niños