Maybe you have heard of a CBT formulation? A five areas? Maybe you have heard of a hot crossed bun, but maybe not the psychology type? That's okay! All of these things are (oddly) the same thing, and it is a way of breaking down experiences so that we can start to make changes to how we think, feel, and act.
A 'hot cross bun' (as I'll call it for the rest of this post anyway) breaks down a response to something into four linked categories, all affecting each other and being affect by each other simultaneously. Mapping it out (and indeed talking it through) can seem like a lot of work, and there is a lot going on, but it is happening all the time. Even now! Right now you have a hot cross bun in response to reading this post, previously in response to getting out a device, and you will with the next thing you do. But let's see an example...
So a situation happens in the environment, and then a lot of other stuff happens. Very quickly. As you can see, all of this also creates something that looks (a little) like a hot cross bun!
According to cognitive behavioural therapy, thoughts tend to come first, which then trigger physical and emotional feelings, which then guide our behaviour. And if you are thinking 'what a load of rubbish, the way I feel physically is what starts my thoughts', or 'I tend to act and then think about it for days afterwards', you are also right! There are some common cycles, but it isn't just a cycle; everything affects everything.
The uses of a hot cross bun are wide ranging, as we can use them to get a better understanding of our reactions, start to track changes in our reactions, or find ways to intervene so that we can feel better about what we encounter day to day. For example, I might:
Realise that I can treat my tense shoulders or jaw as a sign of stress
Notice that my distorted thoughts ('everything is going wrong', 'I'll never be good enough', etc.) tend to happen more when I'm not active
Start to challenge some of my rigid thoughts, and find that my mood starts to change
This post is not about using a hot cross bun, but just understanding them. The best way to understand them (as is the case with most psychological and non-psychological ideas) is to try it on ourselves. If you have a situation that's been difficult, a low mood that keeps coming up, or physical feelings of unease or distress that don't seem to have a clear trigger, taking 5-10 minutes to map it into a hot cross bun could help; it has genuinely helped me countless times, often at the most difficult of times.
Lots of love from Jan Talks Psych xx
