Abstract Contemporary mediation theory has produced multiple paradigms for engaging emotion in conflict — interest-based, transformative, narrative, and trauma-informed approaches. Yet, none has fully developed an account of the small-group mediation system itself as a unit of emotional analysis. Drawing on Bowen Family Systems Theory, group-as-a-

Abstract Conflict flattens people. The moment a relationship becomes a dispute, the parties stop being multidimensional persons and are compressed into single functional roles—debtor, plaintiff, betrayer, victim, opposing party. This compression operates at five interlocking levels: cognitive (schema narrowing and ego-defensive attitude formation), neurobiological (autonomic dysregulation and contracted