Article Title

Transformative Mediation Twenty Years Later: An Invitation to Discuss Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Legal Ethics

Authors

Rich L. Skalstad, Rich Skalstad & AssociatesFollow

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Transformative mediation is substantially based on an ideology of postmodern nihilism and relativism called social constructionism that rejects Enlightenment traditions of science and law. Transformative mediation adopts a relational theory of emotions that teaches emotions are not based in biology, but rather are products of social interaction. Because the transformative model rejects neuroscience in favor of unfounded ideological assumptions, it is unsafe to apply it to disputes involving victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), especially returning combat veterans.

The attorney-mediator who has sworn to uphold the law cannot ethically apply the transformative mediation model based on social constructionism that rejects Enlightenment legal principles. Transformative mediation should reinvent itself by jettisoning social constructionism and redefining itself in terms of postmodern pragmatism that acknowledges Enlightenment traditions of science and law. Thus reinvented, transformative mediation, like problem-solving mediation, would be safe to use with victims of PTSD and ethically acceptable for attorney-mediators.

CU Commons Citation

Skalstad, Rich L. (2016) "Transformative Mediation Twenty Years Later: An Invitation to Discuss Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Legal Ethics," Concordia Law Review: Vol. 1: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.csp.edu/clr/vol1/iss1/2