Ask Lemmy

I can't remember what the original comment said about mindfulness, but it's definitely a part of somatic therapy.

The idea behind it though is to "reset" the nervous system once it's in an activated state. If it's activated because of an anxious thought, then just redirecting your thoughts (CBT) might be enough of a solution.

If your body holds on to something like a traumatic memory or near death experience, sometimes you can be activated by something you're not even consciously aware of (for example, there are certain contexts or feelings your nervous system recognizes even when your mind doesn't). This is where CBT might not be as helpful because the issue never had to do with your conscious thoughts to begin with. Somatic therapy focusing on mindfulness of the sensation though is still mindfulness, just not in the same way as CBT.

Example of bottom up processing: I had a friend who had been on a ventilator in the ICU and eventually recovered, but even a year later she was dealing with all kinds of anxiety that seemed to just pop up out of nowhere. One of the first triggers or activators she recognized was the sensation of thirst triggering her body's memory of the ventilator, which then would then lead to anxious thoughts that could spiral into panic.

An example of the same situation but top down processing: thinking about the ventilator, which would then trigger the memory of how her throat physically felt when she couldn't drink water for several months then triggering the sensation of thirst due to anxiety caused by the conscious thought.

It depends on what it is that's putting you in the activated state. Is it a conscious thought or a "body memory?"