diff --git a/kats/detectors/cusum_detection.py b/kats/detectors/cusum_detection.py
index 579a81ca..c7841ab0 100644
--- a/kats/detectors/cusum_detection.py
+++ b/kats/detectors/cusum_detection.py
@@ -525,7 +525,8 @@ def detector(self, **kwargs: Any) -> Sequence[CUSUMChangePoint]:
                 None means the middle of the time series.
             change_directions: Optional; list<str>; a list contain either or
                 both 'increase' and 'decrease' to specify what type of change
-                want to detect.
+                want to detect, to point both directions can be also setted up
+                as empty list ([]), None or ["both"]
             interest_window: Optional; list<int, int>, a list containing the
                 start and end of interest windows where we will look for change
                 points. Note that llr will still be calculated using all data
@@ -572,8 +573,15 @@ def detector(self, **kwargs: Any) -> Sequence[CUSUMChangePoint]:
         ts = self.data.value.to_numpy()
         ts = ts.astype("float64")
         changes_meta = {}
-
-        if change_directions is None:
+        if type(change_directions) is str:
+            change_directions = [change_directions]
+
+        if (
+            change_directions is None
+            or change_directions == [""]
+            or change_directions == ["both"]
+            or change_directions == []
+        ):
             change_directions = ["increase", "decrease"]
 
         for change_direction in change_directions:
@@ -1024,7 +1032,16 @@ def detector(self, **kwargs: Any) -> List[List[CUSUMChangePoint]]:
             ts_multi = ts_multi[:, np.newaxis]
 
         changes_meta_multi = {}
-        if change_directions is None:
+
+        if type(change_directions) is str:
+            change_directions = [change_directions]
+
+        if (
+            change_directions is None
+            or change_directions == [""]
+            or change_directions == ["both"]
+            or change_directions == []
+        ):
             change_directions = ["increase", "decrease"]
 
         for change_direction in change_directions:
diff --git a/kats/tests/detectors/test_cusum_detection.py b/kats/tests/detectors/test_cusum_detection.py
index e4dceca0..e9afbd89 100644
--- a/kats/tests/detectors/test_cusum_detection.py
+++ b/kats/tests/detectors/test_cusum_detection.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ def setUp(self) -> None:
                 self.periodicity * self.total_cycles - 1,
             ],
             magnitude_quantile=1,
-            change_directions=["increase", "decrease"],
+            change_directions="both",
             delta_std_ratio=0,
         )
         self.season_metadata = self.season_inc_trend_change_points[0]
@@ -542,7 +542,7 @@ def setUp(self) -> None:
         ).detector()
         self.dec_change_points_int_window = CUSUMDetector(
             TimeSeriesData(df[["decrease", "time"]])
-        ).detector(change_directions=["decrease"], interest_window=(35, 55))
+        ).detector(change_directions="decrease", interest_window=(35, 55))
 
         timeseries = TimeSeriesData(df)
         change_points_vectorized_ = VectorizedCUSUMDetector(timeseries).detector_()