terapèutic

Terapèutic is a Catalan adjective that describes anything related to therapy or to treatment intended to relieve, cure, or prevent a disease or condition. In English, the closest equivalent is therapeutic. In medical and health contexts, terapèutic is used to characterize interventions, medications, or activities designed to promote healing or symptom relief, for example tractament terapèutic (therapeutic treatment), efectes terapèutics (therapeutic effects), or intervenció terapèutica (therapeutic intervention).

Etymology traces terapèutic to the Greek therapeutikos, through Latin therapeuticus and, in some Romance languages, via French thérapeutique, with the Catalan form adopting the native phonology and spelling conventions. The word belongs to the same family as teràpia (therapy) and teràpia ocupacional (occupational therapy).

Usage notes: terapèutic agrees with the noun it modifies in gender and number, and it is common in both clinical and academic writing to discuss therapeutic approaches, tools, or outcomes. It is typically contrasted with terms referring to preventive, palliative, or experimental approaches, depending on the context.

See also: teràpia, tractament terapèutic, intervenció terapèutica, teràpia psicològica. Cognates in other languages include terapéutico in Spanish, thérapeutique in French, and therapeutic in English.