Shattered Kingdoms

If you are playing a priest or a mage and are training with a group, keep a pet in between you and the melee folk who subsequently beat you to a pulp (that's an assumption, you may correct me if I'm wrong). Set the pet to mode stun and when you see any of your companions confused, use cancellation on them. They should regain their senses before working their way through your pet (unless you purchased a crappy pet).

Hopefully that helps.

Here's another tip. Stand in second row, and make sure everyone in the front row (if confusion is the issue, work in a pair, and keep one person in the front) has a short range weapon. Sword, mace, etc. (landsknecht not good, obviously). Front row fighters with short range CANNOT reach behind them to attack second row. So when they get confused, you're safe.

That works well until the person in front flees, which will happen all too often.
Your best bet is snagging a pet that can bash. Other than that, the safest bet you've got is making sure that you're not going to run into any powerful NPCs (or kill any weaker friends) while you -are- confused. (IE: Close what doors you can around you.) Also ensure that in sticky situations that you never let your hp get too low, or you're cruising for a bruising.