Treatment is a range of methods that alleviate, manage, or cure health conditions and diseases. It can include medication, behavioral therapy, and surgical procedures. It also can include other services such as diet and exercise advice, massage therapy, and acupuncture.
Medications can help ease withdrawal symptoms, but they can be addictive. For this reason, people in drug addiction treatment often receive behavioral therapy and other psychotherapies to prevent relapse. These techniques may include cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which teaches patients how to identify and address the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that contribute to drug use. They might also learn skills such as distress tolerance, interpersonal communication, and emotional regulation.
Your cancer care team will create a treatment plan for you based on the type of cancer you have and its stage. Your doctor will discuss the benefits and risks of different treatment options.
Cancer treatment often includes chemotherapy. This drug can kill cancer cells and prevent them from multiplying. It can be used as adjuvant therapy – to kill any remaining cancer cells after surgery or radiation – or as neoadjuvant therapy, which shrinks a tumor before surgery or radiation. It can also be used as palliative therapy, which reduces symptoms but doesn’t eliminate cancer cells.
Other forms of treatment for cancer include biologic therapies, which encourage your body’s natural defenses to fight the disease. They might also include immunotherapy, which helps your immune system “see” cancer and attack it, or hormone therapy, which blocks the growth of certain types of cancers by blocking their source of fuel.