Anxieties and defences in mediation: A case study with tentative answers

The Mediation Space LLP and The Carvalho Consultancy

The mediation process stirs powerful and sometimes distressing emotional responses from all involved including the mediator. Our conscious and unconscious ways of communicating impact us in ways that can be difficult to understand. Our inner worlds developed since childhood alter the way we perceive and interact with the outside world. The couple develop their own ways of relating to each other designed to safeguard themselves from frightening outside influences. Our ways of coping with anxiety known as our defences become heightened when we feel under attack impacting our ability to think and reason. Often those in mediation are in a heightened state of anxiety. Using a case study this article seeks to explore the conscious and unconscious anxieties and defences present between the couple and the mediator within a mediation. The authors The Mediation Space LLP and The Carvalho Consultancy have collaborated to apply their expertise in psychotherapy and mediation to demonstrate ways of thinking about what is going on under the surface for the couple and how this informs their...

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