How to say "therapy" in Japanese

• 治療ちりょうJLPT N1approx.Common
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers therapy in the medical sense: treatment given by a doctor for an illness or injury. When a patient is being treated at a hospital or clinic, this is the word to use.
  治療ちりょうよりも予防よぼう。↗

  Prevention is better than cure.
• セラピーCommon
  nounThe loanword for therapy. It is often used for psychological counseling and wellness- or healing-oriented approaches rather than the medical treatment of disease.
  このセラピーにおいて心理学しんりがく的てき準備じゅんびが重要じゅうようだということは正ただしい。↗

  It is correct to say that psychological readiness is important in this therapy.
• 療法りょうほうCommon
  nounEmphasizes a method or system of treatment — the 'therapy' of a particular approach — rather than the act of treating a patient. Use it when naming or discussing a specific kind of treatment.
  重病じゅうびょうには思い切おもいきった療法りょうほうが必要ひつようだ。↗

  Desperate diseases require desperate remedies.

Use 治療 for medical treatment of an illness or injury, 「セラピー」 for the loanword in counseling and wellness contexts, and 療法 when referring to a particular method or system of treatment.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 治療ちりょう(medical) treatment
• セラピーtherapy
• 療法りょうほう(method of) treatment
• 癒しいやしhealing
• テラピーtherapy
• 療治りょうじtreatment