A mediation has its own personality. This is created by the relationship between counsel, settlement positions of the parties, direct participation by the decision makers and the emotional tension surrounding the dispute.

Few areas of alternative dispute resolution contain more emotion than "elder abuse" cases. When a (now grown-up) child entrusts a parent to a facility for the delivery of continued care, most experience the internal tension guilt and relief. There's tension between a family to manage, a job to go to and other responsibilites that make it impossible to care for a parent whose overall health situation is deteriorating.