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Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Approaches in Therapy
Understanding the Differences
Both approaches offer valuable pathways to healing, but they operate in fundamentally different ways. There are many therapy modalities today, however, therapy usually prioritizes one of these two systems.
Top-Down
logical, verbal, narrative
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Uses your thinking brain to process experience
You work through your experiences with thoughts, words, and meaning-making.
e.g. CBT, DBT, and narrative-based therapies
Bottom-Up
sensory, somatic, embodied
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Starts with your body and nervous system
You work by becoming aware of breath and sensation. You use movement and body awareness as a pathway to changing emotive states.
e.g. somatic work, Dance Movement Therapy, and IFS
We function as a unit: a two-way highway where there is a constant flow of information between the mind and the body, body and mind. My work aims to integrate the two.
If you are curious, I'd love to hear from you.
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