Can Writer's Block be prevented?

Can writer's block be prevented? It sounds like I am talking about a disease, perhaps it is a disease. A disease that affects authors preventing them from practicing their art. If writer's block is a disease then an author should be able to identify the symptoms of the disease. Once the symptoms are identified and the disease diagnosed, then the writer should be able to find a prescription to cure the disease.

I have been afflicted with this disease several times over the past few years. For me, an attack of writer's block begins like this. I turn on the computer, load a blank document into the word processing program, and then sit their staring at a pure white page. I sit there with my hands on the keyboard waiting for my brain to direct my fingers to type a word, sentence, or paragraph. Nothing happens, so I get up, go pour myself a cup of coffee and come back to the computer.

I sit sipping my coffee and staring at the screen. still nothing happens, not even a coffee haiku. I am a coffee drinker. I can write a coffee haiku in my sleep, except when afflicted by the disease of writer's block. Is there a way to prevent and even cure writer's block?