Basic View of Human Nature

The basis of my perception of human nature is premised on the Biblical account of creation, the fall of man, and the plan of redemption. According to this concept, God intended that everything is perfect for the man. This was until man's thoughts were negatively influenced by the devil's irrational lies that resulted in the fall of man into sin. However, despite man's questionable behavior, God initiated a plan for redemption that involved the introduction of common grace by Jesus Christ. The Gospel was then introduced to make man aware of their irrational beliefs that drew them away from God. The plan for restoration became the basis upon which the Christians today would change their thoughts and subsequent behavior. Therefore, they would be saved from their sinful ways. Through Jesus' Christ's righteousness, Christians would revert to the perfection that God initially intended.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The biblical account confirms that it is natural for human beings' emotions to be appeased with irrational thoughts. Such views may transform their feelings regarding their perception of the immediate environment, hence, change their behavior. For instance, in the biblical account of creation, the serpent influenced Eve to think that when they disobeyed God, they would become like God; thus have the knowledge and ability to distinguish right from wrong. These thoughts were outright irrational since it was impossible for the two to be like God. Even so, this influenced Eve into perpetrating behavior contrary to God's instructions.

It is, therefore, apparent that human thoughts are influenced by their feelings. It is also inherent that these emotions shall be mirrored in people's conduct. Further, such behavior would reinforce these thoughts, and the cycle continues. To this end, human thoughts are perfect until they are laced with irrational beliefs. Such feelings result in fallacies and or fears that cause the change in human conduct. However, due to liberty in rational thinking, people may become conscious of their dysfunctional behavior when they transform their beliefs. The changes would go hand in hand with influencing fresh, logical thoughts and subsequently affecting behavior.

This allusion compares perfectly to the biblical concept of redemption. The plan to saving Christians from sin (that originated from irrational thoughts) involves changing how Christians understand their relationship with God while drawing them from false incitements from the Devil. This results in a change in one's conduct once they believe in Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Hence, Christians' behavior is transformed by the difference in their beliefs into more rational insights delivered in the Gospel. Accordingly, it is true to infer that dysfunctional human behavior is affected by thoughts that are inspired by beliefs. Such dysfunctional behavior may also be averted by imparting logical thoughts that eliminate irrational beliefs.

My perception of the human nature, therefore, resonates with the concept behind Cognitive Behavioral Theory (CBT). According to CBT, faulty thinking accounts for various incidences of psychological distress (Wills, 2012). Therefore, such psychological problems may be addressed by instigating change in the clients' thoughts and beliefs that would, in turn, transform their behavior. The concept is focused on making a patient conscious of how they perceive things and how they learn and evaluate them before making decisions (McKay et al., 2015). Thus, interventions through cognitive psychology are meant to establish a client's patters of interpretation of social relationships before intervening to change these systematic ways.

Factors the Account for Changes in Behavior

Various causal explanations are given to account for the change in behavior. Generally, changes in behavior may be explained by internal thoughts or the nature of the external environment. According to Aristotle, Internal thoughts that account for change may be explained by two causal explanations of behavior which include the formal and material causes (Killeen, 2001). For instance, formal causes are attributed to logic while material causes are founded on other thoughts or beliefs that also influence thoughts. Thus, one's behavior may change due to the influence of strong beliefs, whether rational or not, that one subscribes to (Alvarez, 2000). Also, change in one's behavior may be influenced by rational thoughts through logical reasoning.

On the other hand, the nature of the external environment may account for the change in behavior based on two causal explanations, the efficient cause and the final cause (Alvarez, 2000). While the efficient causes refer to events that trigger particular effects, the final cause refers to the functional account or inherent explanation for the change in behavior (Killeen, 2001). For instance, the efficient causes account for variation in behavior to be as a result of the inevitable nature of the external environment. However, final causes offer functional explanations that directly account for the change in one's behavior.

Therefore, the factors that account for the change in behavior include the nature of the external environment attributable to external triggers or inevitable functional justifications. Internal factors such as logic and fallacies also account for the change in behavior. From these factors, it is apparent that negative behavior as a consequence of irrational thoughts may be corrected through invoking the formal causes that strike logic hence avert dysfunctional behavior. It is also apparent that the external factors resulting from efficient causes are inevitable hence difficult to change to avert dysfunctional behavior. The final causes reinforce one's thoughts and cement the cycle of behavior that is either developed from the irrational thoughts or logical beliefs.

How Intervention Strategies are Designed

The primary intervention program for this theoretical orientation shall be designed taking to account ore value that underlies Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. For instance, the intervention strategies shall be focused on the present and future experiences to the exclusion of past experiences. Unlike other psychological interventions, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is focused on the evaluation of prevailing symptoms and development of strategies to reinforce or develop desired behavior. This has been the practice under other CBT psychotherapists who prescribe more individualistic interventions.

The intervention strategies shall focus more on change of cognition rather than adopting behavioral methods. This theoretical orientation shall apply to solve issues in relationships or between a married couple. Despite having interventions that incorporate change of behavior techniques, the interventions shall lean more on the transformation of the party's cognition rather than a change in their behavior.

The treatment plan shall also incorporate interventions relevant under the Integration with family system therapy. Despite apparent distinction from CBT, elements family system therapy interventions would be part of the interventions necessary to mitigate family or relationship problems. This takes into account that both CBT and family systems therapy acknowledge the significance of personal relationships. Further, it is easier to tailor CBT techniques to befit the family system therapeutic interventions.

Based on my background perception of human nature alluding to the biblical account, some of the intervention strategies would be validated the by theological concepts. Since every technique would be unique to every client, bibliotherapy would only feature as an intervention strategy among patients who are persuaded by the biblical scriptures. Thus, adopting an individualistic approach rather than the conventional interpersonal method would be key to developing interventions for the therapy. This would ensure that treatment, despite adhering to the primary intervention program, is unique for all patients.

Finally, the interventions shall be designed depending on the goals that the psychotherapist and the client would have initially established. This would include an initial agreement that the client would perform certain obligations as homework to facilitate their treatment. This intervention strategy is influenced by the fact that the bulk of transformation and treatment in CBT happens out of session rather than within the brief interaction with the client in every session. Further, the interventions shall be designed in measurable steps that can be examined later to evaluate the progress of treatment.

The Conceptualization of Mental Health

According to the Cognitive Behavioral Theory depression and psychological disturbances and depressions are caused by negative and irrational thoughts, stereotypes and beliefs. According to George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory, we interpret and organize social relationships in a structured pattern (Simos, 2014). Therefore, distorted thinking leads to beliefs that bear negative emotional or behavioral consequences (Wills, 2012). According to CBT, conscious control of one's beliefs and the elimination of irrational feelings may help in restoring one's psychological well-being to the satisfactory levels of behavioral adjustments.

The Rational Behavioral Therapy, which is a form of CBT provides that deterioration in mental health, manifest through psychological disorders, is attributable to people's thoughts about situations, rather than the actual situation itself (Gehart, 2015). This is illustrated through the ABC model where the emotional and behavioral problems are caused by activating agents that stimulate thoughts in one's mind about what they believe about the event (Wills, 2012). Irrational thoughts or fallacies, in this regard, would result in a distorted state of emotional and behavioral adjustment (Terides et al., 2017). Therefore, according to CBT, our thoughts affect the performance of our mental function by resulting in activities that affect our ability to relate to others, adapt to change and cope with diversity.

Factors That Contribute to Healthy Family/Couple Relationships

Mutual understanding is one of the most critical factors that contribute to a healthy family. Having a shared knowledge of one another is key to a couple's relationship to mitigate instances of unnecessary anxiety or tension. For example, failure to have mutual understanding makes the couple vulnerable to pressures and an unhealthy relationship. For example, failure to know and understand the other partner would result in on developing irrational beliefs about them. Subsequently, they would build fears and schemas that would make it difficult for them to confront or consult the other party regarding the issues. This extends into an unpleasant behavior that is founded on fictitious beliefs to the detriment of the relationship.

The welfare of a couple of relationships also depends on the ability of the parties to confront their fears among themselves (Titleman, 2014). Difficulty in responding to worries allow room for negative thoughts. This would result in behaviors with adverse consequences to the relationship. Further, it is important for couples to establish distinct roles and rules to respect. This will create legitimate expectations for each of the parties in the relationship to the extent that would not allow for the development of irrational beliefs due to incomprehensible expectations (Titleman, 2014).

Skills Necessary to Meet Goals and Outcomes

Every psychotherapist that undertakes the CBT must be able to cope with various skills to realize the desired outcomes from the process. The first critical skill is...