therapy
noun
What therapy means
Treatment for a physical or mental problem, often involving regular sessions with a trained professional.
She goes to therapy once a week.
Physical therapy helped my shoulder recover.
Test yourself
Five questions about therapy
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Question 1 of 5Meaning
What does therapy mean?
Therapy is help for the body or the mind that usually happens again and again over time, such as weekly talks with a counsellor or exercises with a physiotherapist.
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Question 2 of 5Situation
Every Tuesday, Anna talks to a trained professional about her worries, and slowly she is feeling better. Anna is having…
Regular talks with a trained professional to help you feel better are a kind of therapy. Surgery is an operation, and quarantine means staying away from other people.
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Question 3 of 5Gap
After the stroke, my grandfather had six months of ___ to learn to speak again.
Learning to speak again takes regular sessions with a trained expert, and that is therapy. Surgery is a single operation, and quarantine keeps sick people away from others.
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Question 4 of 5Similar word
Which word is closest in meaning to therapy?
Therapy is a kind of treatment: help that makes a physical or mental problem better. A diagnosis only names the problem, and an illness is the problem itself.
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Question 5 of 5Correct use
Which sentence uses therapy correctly?
When we talk about therapy in general, it has no article, so you go to therapy, not to the therapy or to a therapy. You go to therapy or have it; you do not make it.
Keys 1 to 4 pick an answer, Enter goes on.
Therapy in a sentence
5 more examples of therapy in everyday situations.
- With friends
Talking to someone in therapy really helped me after the breakup.
- After an injury
He needs eight weeks of physical therapy before he can play again.
- At work
Our health plan covers six therapy sessions a year.
- A message
Can’t talk now, I’m heading to therapy. I’ll call you at six.
- Jobs
My sister is training to be a speech therapist at a children’s hospital.
How to use therapy
Therapy covers many types: physical therapy for the body, talking therapy for the mind. A therapist is the professional who gives it.
Therapy is uncountable when general, and countable for types: “several therapies for back pain”.
Forms
- therapiesplural
- therapistnoun, the person
- therapeuticadjective
Patterns
- go to / be in therapy
- therapy for something
- a therapy session
- physical / speech / group therapy
Common mistakes with therapy
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NotI go to the therapy every week.
SayI go to therapy every week.
When you mean therapy in general, it takes no article: you go to therapy, just like you go to school.
Therapy or treatment or counseling?
- therapy or treatment
- Treatment is the general word for any medical care; therapy is a kind of treatment, often over many regular sessions, and it is also the usual word for talking to a mental health professional.
- therapy or counseling
- Counseling is often shorter and focuses on one problem, such as grief or stress at work; therapy can last longer and go deeper. In everyday talk many people use them almost the same way.
Therapy is a C1 word. Is that your level? Take the level test or count the words you know.
Therapy word family and collocations
The words that go with therapy, so you can use it in a whole phrase.
Common collocations
- physical therapy
- go to therapy
- talking therapy
- a therapy session
- group therapy
Word family
- therapy (noun)
- therapist (noun)
- therapeutic (adjective)
Similar words
- treatment
Questions about therapy
Is it go to therapy or go to a therapy?
Say go to therapy or be in therapy, with no article. Use a or the when you mean one session or one specific kind: “a therapy session”, “a new therapy for cancer”.
What is the difference between therapy and therapist?
Therapy is the treatment; a therapist is the trained person who gives it. You go to therapy and talk to your therapist.
What is physical therapy?
Physical therapy is treatment with exercise, stretching and massage that helps your body move well again after an injury or an operation. In British English it is usually called physiotherapy.
The word before
Do you still remember automate?
One question about the word from 21 October. Remembering a word a day later helps it stay.
One question
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What does automate mean?
When you automate a job, you set up a machine or a program so that it does the work on its own, and nobody has to do it by hand.
Keys 1 to 4 pick an answer.
More health words
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C1
chronic
Lasting for a long time or happening again and again, usually describing an illness. -
B2
treatment
Medical care given to a person to cure an illness or reduce pain. -
C1
fracture
A break or crack in a bone. -
C1
shiver
To shake slightly because you are cold, ill or afraid. -
B2
prescription
A doctor’s written instruction that lets you get a particular medicine from a pharmacy. -
B2
fever
A body temperature that is higher than normal, usually because of an infection.