However, mishandling these transitions can create an impasse and cause major damage to the parties and to the mediation process. Transitions can be conceptualized in terms of the following issues: where the parties are, what they have just accomplished, where they want to go next, what barriers exist to reaching those goals, and how the parties want to get to their goals. During the mediation, the parties constantly change their focus from satisfying their psychological needs to satisfying their substantive interest. Both elements are always present, but at any given time one is dominant. Mediators must manage transitions between antagonism and collaboration. They do this by using two very different processes: the conciliation process and the joint problemsolving process. They apply these processes during the mediation's four major stages: defining the issues, uncovering hidden interests, generating settlement options, and assessing settlement options. Guidelines for handling each stage, figure, and references.