Suchergebnisse

Patients' resistance may occur at any stage of psychotherapy or mediation process. The focus of this paper is on the resistance to use psychotherapy or family mediation. We also explore psychological grounds for the difficulties behind the decision to seek professional psychological help. The resistance in psychotherapy is one of the fundamental problems, hence a lot of research studies and practical techniques can be found regarding the determinants of resistance and strategies how to cope with it. However, in the family mediation literature the conceptualisation of resistance to enter the mediation process has rarely been investigated. In the present paper five main factors of the avoidance of counselling or psychotherapy are analysed, namely: (i) social stigma, (ii) treatment fears, (iii) fear of emotion, (iv) anticipated utility and risk, and (v) problems with self-disclosure. As far as the decision to enter family mediation is concerned the main sources of clients' resistance can be traced to negative convictions, attitudes and fears of the mediation process. The results of the author's own research on this subject show that the main components of resistance are: (1) disbelief in effectiveness of mediation, (2) attribution of negative characteristics to mediation, (3) reluctance to involvement of third party, and (4) fear of disclosure of secrets. In the final part of the paper a discussion of similarities between the factors determining the resistance to participate in psychotherapy and family mediation is presented.

The objective of this paper was to analyze the sociocultural and personal reasons pivotal to the openness of the conflicting parties to a dialogue in the framework of family mediation. In the quest to answer the question what factors can influence the development of the family mediation in Poland and its acceptance both by the society and the families in conflict, the author presented the results of international and Polish research on the efficacy of the family mediation process and the readiness of the parties to use the mediation in family conflicts. Two theoretical concepts characterizing the sociocultural origins of resistance to mediation were analyzed in detail, namely that of the social resistance proposed by B. Mayer and that of the moral resistance by R. Benjamin. Moreover, the paper addressed the issue of the promotion of mediation together with the unrealistic expectations as to what can be achieved through mediation, mythologization of mediation and dilemma connected with the neutrality of the mediator. Finally, an integrated systemic approach to family mediation was proposed, which could enhance the chances of acceptance of the mediation by the parties in conflict. In essence it is proposed that the promotion of mediation should be exercised on three levels: (1) general societal level (to promote the winwin solutions in family conflicts), (2) level of specific educational activities for the conflicted parties (e.g. organization of premediation consultative meetings), and (3) level of specific actions targeted at various professional groups (e.g. judges, lawyers, probation officer, employees of the family support centres, etc).

The paper analyzes the benefits of using family mediation as an alternative method of family conflict resolution and problems encountered when introducing it into the social life in modern societies. The analysis shows that the development of family mediation in Poland resembles that of other European states. In Poland, as in other European countries, family mediation was first "discovered" by the professionals dealing with family conflicts, then it was given a proper legal status and became included in the civil codes. The next phase was a protracted process of accepting the method of mediation by lawyers, conflicted parties, and other professionals who would be in the position to support the growth of family mediation. While analyzing the benefits of family mediation, a state of art type of study was done on the effectiveness of the mediation process and the clients' satisfaction indicating the short and long term advantages of family mediation. The paper proves no linear relationship between the effectiveness of the mediation procedures and the acceptance of this method in the court practice and in the society. Why people do not choose mediation despite its logical advantages over the adversarial court process? Trying to answer this question an analysis of potential sources of resistance to mediation is presented together with the relevant concepts of the moral resistance and the public resistance. These two concepts help us understand why do parties in conflict prefer adversarial court proceedings with the "winner" and "looser" over peaceful resolutions offered by mediation, enabling agreement and "keeping the face".