Interpersonal Conflicts: Where Gestalt Therapy Meets Mediation

Abstract

AbstractMediation is a voluntary process in which parties in conflict try to reach an agreement by negotiating. An impartial person, the mediator, supports them. When conflicts are solved in legal proceedings, human needs and interests often are not adequately considered. When therapists work with only one party in conflict, the conflict dynamics and the social, economic, and political fields are not sufficiently examined. If Gestalt therapists worked as mediators, all parties in conflict would benefit from the many useful skills of the Gestalt approach.