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Contemporary gestalt psychotherapy: The tensions between practitioner education and the current cultural context »
Contemporary gestalt psychotherapy: The tensions between practitioner education and the current cultural context
Patrick (Paddy) O'Regan
This paper provides a review of the literature that concerns the nature of gestalt professional education within the contemporary cultural context. It suggests that there are significant challenges to providing an ethically congruent training program within that context. It is based on the literature review that formed part of my PhD thesis (O'Regan, 2021), exploring the experiences of gestalt professional education providers. That research identified a perceived gap in the professional knowledge of contemporary gestalt therapy. This paper provides an account of contemporary gestalt therapy, illustrating important developments since its inception. It also expands and updates ideas articulated in an earlier article regarding the training of gestalt therapists (O'Regan et al., 2017). It does so by identifying thematic issues relating to the delivery and management of the training of gestalt therapists within the contemporary cultural context while noting gaps in knowledge. Those identified issues are the nature of gestalt therapy, the nature of the contemporary cultural context, and the impact of this context on the provision of gestalt professional education.
Contemporary Gestalt Therapy
Gestalt therapy originated in the 1950s after two significant events: the publication of the seminal text Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality by Fritz Perls, Ralph Hefferline, and Paul Goodman (1951/1994), and the opening of the New York Institute for Gestalt Therapy (NYIGT) in 1952. This seminal text is known within the gestalt community as "PHG", with F. Perls and Goodman acknowledged as contributing to the theoretical sections while Hefferline authored the chapters containing practical exercises (Knapp, 1986). The word "gestalt", which has no direct English translation, has been defined as a "whole, configuration, integration, a unique patterning" (Smith, 1976, p. 3). F. Perls stated that he used the term gestalt to describe the synthesis of several diverse philosophical and psychological traditions that formed a distinctive system of psychotherapy, claiming he and the other founders critically examined and assimilated philosophy, psychoanalysis, and semantics into a new comprehensive theory (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994).
Gestalt therapy draws from specific theories that produce a distinctive contemporary praxis (Brownell, 2010) to guide its method, which is influenced by humanistic and existential philosophies (Yontef, 1993). While gestalt therapy is practised mainly as a form of individual psychotherapy, its principles are used in settings such as group facilitation, relationship counselling, organisational consultancy, and education. The competent practice of gestalt therapy requires certain knowledge, skills, and attributes in its therapists, and the training of a gestalt therapist is designed to develop this knowledge, promote these skills, and instil these attributes (Joyce & Sills, 2010). Since its inception these skills have been practised and taught through institutes that are now located worldwide (O'Leary, 2013).
Gestalt therapy's principles are directly linked to the various philosophical and theoretical influences and formulations of its founders as well as how they attempted to synthesise these influences into a coherent therapy (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994). Although often not acknowledged for the extent of her input, Laura Perls, who was married to F. Perls, has in fact significantly contributed to the theory and development of gestalt therapy (Taylor, 2009). In particular, her contribution to the embodied, movement-based features of gestalt therapy are noted (Taylor, 2009). The founders drew from both Western sciences of the time and Eastern practices, including Zen and Tao traditions, but especially gestalt psychology (Brownell, 2010).
The gestalt psychology movement was engaged in the phenomenological study of perception, and although there are fundamental differences, it had a significant influence on gestalt therapy (Taylor, 2009). The experiments conducted by the gestalt psychologists found that humans organised information as wholes, rather than as constitutive parts, and that perception was an active process in which people select, filter, and fill in missing information to make sense of the world. Consequently, all perception is understood as an active process of interpretation and meaning-making (Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). This interpretivist paradigm was a radical departure from the dominant, associationalist psychological paradigm that focused on stimulus and response and conceived the brain as a recorder of objective reality (Stoehr, 1994; Taylor, 2009; Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). However, gestalt therapy was most influenced by two people associated with the gestalt psychologists: Kurt Goldstein, a neurologist and psychiatrist, and Kurt Lewin, the founder of social psychology (Brownell, 2010; Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). Goldstein, who was influenced by Husserl's phenomenological method, developed a theory highlighting the relationship between an organism and the environment necessary for the organism to survive (Brownell, 2010). Lewin extensively studied this relationship between the person and their world (field) in social settings and theorised that behaviour is a function of the field (Brownell, 2010). It is largely from their investigations that F. Perls, L. Perls, and Goodman developed gestalt therapy with its emphasis on awareness and contact.
The conceptual centre of gestalt therapy's theory is contact. The founders first introduced the concept that "experience occurs at the boundary between the organism and its environment" (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994, p. 3). It is at this boundary that contact occurs, and this represents the first reality for a person in the environment or the "organism/environment field" (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994, p. 5). This perspective submits that the organism is not separate from the environment but is touched, limited, and restrained by it (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994). Such contact can only be brought to concentrated awareness in the "here and now" experience. Existential preferencing of immediate experience signified a deliberate and fundamental departure from Freud's theories of unconscious drives and defences shaped by childhood experiences (Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). Rather, the ability for a person to make contact with their environment to identify a clear need, sometimes called "figure" or "gestalt", determines their ability to satisfy their needs in the present world in order to learn and to grow. The quality of this contact with oneself, others, and the environment is synonymous with health in the gestalt model (Cain, 2002). F. Perls and Goodman regarded the process of healthy contact as a "creative adjustment" to the environment that allows the individual to grow, and this growth is optimised by supportive contact with novelty (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994). F. Perls et al. (1951/1994) also believed that human nature includes lifelong growth, which Wheeler and Axelsson (2015) stated is the "capacity to integrate ever increasing complexity of response and meaning making in relationship to our world" (p. 43). Thus, gestalt therapy assumes that the process of creative adjustment occurring at the contact boundary supports organismic processes that are authentic, creative, healthy, and growth orientated. Conversely, processes that are rigid or unresponsive are regarded as neurotic (F. Perls et al., 1951/1994). Gestalt therapy aims to raise the client's awareness of how they engage in these creative adjustments.
The aims and processes of gestalt therapy intend to support people to learn how they interrupt creating figures from the present ground by superimposing habitual past situations (grounds) and thus incongruent and unspontaneous meanings to the present situation. Then, the process of psychotherapy supports clients to build awareness of their process of contact and figure formation. L. Perls (1992) affirmed the fundamental nature of awareness in gestalt therapy:
The aim of Gestalt Therapy is the awareness continuum, the freely ongoing Gestalt formation where what is of greatest concern and interest to the organism, the relationship, the group, society, becomes Gestalt, comes into the foreground. (p.8)
Here, awareness is seen as the function that promotes healthy contact between a person and their environment, and consequently, growth and change. Thus, gestalt therapy outlines its position that human growth, learning, and health are synonymous (J. Harris, 1999). The idea of the contact process is drawn from the humanistic concept that people are growth orientated, self regulated, and understood only in relation to their environment, and gestalt therapy has also incorporated the principles of phenomenological enquiry, holism, and field orientation into this approach (Yontef & Jacobs, 2010). These humanistic and existential ideas are differentiating and defining features of gestalt therapy. They situate it within a humanistic/existential psychotherapy paradigm.
Gestalt therapy is recognised as a humanistic psychotherapy because both share several defining characteristics. These include an optimistic view of the individual as tending to move towards their best potential as well as a view of the individual as self-responsible and free to choose how they live (Cain, 2002; F. Perls et al., 1951/1994). Furthermore, individuals are seen as whole and embodied beings, indivisible from their social world and only understood in relation to the life-space they occupy (Barber, 2006; Cain, 2002; Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). Humans have evolved to be essentially social, and most human problems are interpersonal and relational (Cain, 2002; Fairfield, 2013). Humanistic gestalt therapy values people's rights and desires to know what is best for them. Furthermore, democratic processes of decision-making are respected (Cain, 2002; Lahood, 2013). Humans are understood as being engaged in active meaning-making—constructing and interpreting their reality (Bagnall & Hodge, 2017; Cain, 2002; Wheeler & Axelsson, 2015). These humanistic features of gestalt therapy are explained further through elements of field theory along with several related humanistic or existential concepts (Cain, 2002; Dublin, 1976; Gaffney, 2010). The concepts are fundamentally interrelated and include phenomenology, existential dialogue, and experimentation (Dublin, 1976; Yontef, 1993).
Field theory has influenced gestalt therapy from its beginnings. Attending to the total situation of a person's experience was instrumental in the formulation of gestalt theory (Evans, 2007). Field theory is linked to the gestalt psychology notion of "figure and ground" in which an individual organises their attention based on their uppermost need and assumes the fundamental nature of the always-present environment. Gestalt therapy strives to build people's awareness of how they are in contact with their environmental fields (Yontef, 1993). The emerging contemporary theory regarding therapy from a field model is that therapy is conducted with an impaired "person–world interaction" situation rather than a pathology within a person (Wollants, 2012, p. 37). Contemporary theorists such as Wollants (2012) highlight the inseparability of the field:
The Gestalt-theoretical approach regards all psychic events, problems and solutions as comprehensible only as parts of a person's total situation (gestalt-situation). Only the forces in the present situation are relevant as far as study and therapy or change is concerned. (p. 7)
In a gestalt therapy session, the field is understood as "the entire situation of the therapist, the client, and all that goes on between them" (Parlett & Lee, 2005, p. 43). It follows that the pragmatics of therapy from a field perspective requires a phenomenological methodology to support the exploration of awareness in the field (Evans, 2007).
Gestalt therapists have been influenced by phenomenology as developed by Husserl and more recently by Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and Heidegger (Spagnuolo Lobb, 2013). Gestalt therapy holds that part of its purpose is to analyse the structure of existence through phenomenological methods in order to appreciate and attune to the client's "being-in-the-world" (Burley & Bloom, 2008; Dublin, 1976). Husserl's phenomenological method was designed to create a philosophical attitude to clarify the foundation of the positive sciences and the nature of consciousness (Bloom, 2009). The philosophy of phenomenology has been modified to create a therapeutic method by adapting Husserl's proposal of phenomenological reduction, or bracketing, in an attempt to minimise intersubjective distance (Burley & Bloom, 2008). Gestalt therapy emphasises the psychological rather than the philosophical aspects of phenomenology (Burley & Bloom, 2008). It draws on the methods or rules of phenomenological reduction, such as the rule of epoché or bracketing of biases and assumptions; the rule of description, which preferences description over explanation; and the rule of horizontalisation or equalisation, where all information is treated equally without hierarchy for use in therapeutic settings (Spinelli, 2005).
Rather than transcending psychologism to find a mundane reality like the phenomenologists, in gestalt therapy, the modified phenomenological method uses the therapist/client field to explore the natural or everyday experience with selected material building or leading to new awareness (Bloom, 2009, 2020; Burley & Bloom, 2008;). Here, in the therapeutic exchange, the therapist and client use phenomenological observation, not as a philosophically based method, but as a skilled technique to reveal experiences in the here and now that are specific and concrete, thus avoiding abstraction and theorising (Barlow, 2016). The existential phenomenological stance is associated with a foundational person-to-person relationship within therapy, and gestalt therapy has developed practices designed to support authentic relating. This being-with relational intent is influenced by dialogic existentialism as proposed by the philosopher Martin Buber and has been adapted within gestalt therapy (Hycner, 1985).
Laura Perls, who was profoundly influenced by the work of Buber, introduced dialogic existentialism into gestalt therapy (Hycner, 1985). Buber's (1923/1996) concept of the "I–Thou" relationship as an authentic meeting between two people, in which both are fully respected in the humanity of each other, is regarded highly in gestalt therapy (Clarkson, 1989). Gestalt therapy has reframed some of Buber's (1923/1996) ideas for application in therapeutic situations, such as the requirements of genuine dialogue, which involves presence, genuine and unreserved communication, and inclusion (Jacobs, 1989). These requirements assume an authentic relationship where the therapist is not fulfilling a role or taking on a persona. The issue of the therapist as an individualistic and authentic person has come under scrutiny in the gestalt literature recently, and the need for an empathetic caring relationship has been emphasised (Fairfield, 2013; Fairfield & O'Shea, 2008). The importance of these original relational aspects of gestalt therapy have been revisited in the contemporary literature as a response to the later work of F. Perls and other gestalt therapists who, according to some, evolved from its origins as a relational practice of care to instead emphasise a challenging and shame-inducing approach to therapeutic change (Dublin, 1976; Wheeler, 2000).
The early strivings of gestalt therapy have been developed in the emerging literature regarding the importance of attending to shame and the cost of the confrontational nature of the early therapists such as F. Perls (Dublin, 1976; Wagner-Moore, 2004; Wheeler, 2000). More recently, the early ecological model of gestalt therapy has been re-emphasised to match the call for a critique of the aspect of humanistic thought that emphasises the self-sufficient and self-regulating individual within the modern isolating culture (Bloom, 2011; Fairfield, 2013). Rather, writers such as Fairfield (2013) have argued for a "relational movement" (p. 22) within gestalt therapy, where the value of "rugged individualism" (p. 25) is rejected and the evolutionary imperative of human relationships is valued. The relational movement problematises the turn towards isolation in the contemporary culture (Fairfield, 2013; Fairfield & O'Shea, 2008; Frew, 2016; Wheeler, 2000) and suggests that the care of the environment and the relational inclusion of humanity is synonymous with health, whereby health is understood as inevitable in a culture that values compassion, diversity, equity, and sustainability (Fairfield, 2013). Fairfield (2013) articulated four values of the relational approach:
Health can only be defined relationally and holistically.
Embodied experience should be included in important decision-making.
Diversity is essential to all development.
Sustainability depends on sharing leadership. (p.23)
The contemporary practice of gestalt therapy is defined by its humanistic and phenomenological methodology. Gestalt therapy is present centred, phenomenological, experimental/experiential, relational, and field orientated. These core characteristics of gestalt therapy inform the required knowledge and attributes of gestalt therapists. In turn, the preferred attributes of gestalt practitioners shape the curriculum of gestalt professional education settings. The following sections explore these attributes.
The Characteristics of Gestalt Therapists
The foundational humanistic/existential underpinning of gestalt therapy theory and practice influences the preferred characteristics and attributes of gestalt therapists, which constitute the outcome of training processes. Since the desired attributes of gestalt therapists are aligned to the humanistic nature of gestalt therapy, aspects of the therapist's disposition and being are valued (Bagnall & Hodge, 2017; Bar-Yoseph & Levine, 2012; Meara & Levien, 2005). In a humanistic and existential modality such as gestalt therapy, the therapist's being or self is understood as the instrument of therapeutic change, and so the being of the therapist is more important than the doing of therapeutic techniques (Meara & Levien, 2005).
The qualities valued in a gestalt therapist are related to the attributes required in an authentic, existential, and dialogical relationship, which include authenticity, presence, inclusion, and confirmation (Jacobs, 1989). Gestalt therapists must be capable of engaging in the phenomenological method, which includes attributes of self-awareness, attuning to emotional states of the self and other, attending to the figure and ground process of the immediate interaction, and entering into a full relational contact episode with the client (Vidakovic et al., 2013). Furthermore, gestalt therapists require understanding and knowledge of theories and concepts that support therapeutic contact, such as the phenomenological method, field theory, and theories of self, change, and diagnosis (Vidakovic et al., 2013). These desired attributes of gestalt therapists inform the nature and practice of their education within various educational settings. The professional education of gestalt practitioners is shaped by the core characteristics of gestalt therapy, the tenets of gestalt education philosophy and practice, and the desired attributes of a gestalt practitioner.
The Education of Gestalt Therapists
Humanistic values and gestalt therapy methodologies discussed in previous sections are represented in the literature as essential aspects of the formative education of a gestalt therapist. While John Harris (1999) noted a scarcity of writing surrounding gestalt approaches to gestalt therapist education, the existing literature argues for congruence between the values of gestalt therapy and the education of gestalt therapists. Woldt (2005) confirmed the values of gestalt therapy that must be incorporated within the practice of educating therapists, including, "authenticity, optimism, holism and trust" (p. xv). Furthermore, the humanistic educational principles of inquiry, including holism, autonomy, experiential enquiry, and democracy, should underpin the training of gestalt psychotherapists (Barber, 2006; Peterson & Kolb, 2018). Dawson (2000) and J. Harris (1999) stated that the principles of gestalt therapy need to be congruent with the practices of therapist education. Furthermore, J. Harris (1999) suggested that the disciplines of phenomenology, existentialism, and field theory offer a coherent basis for the education of gestalt therapists. The contemporary values of the relational movement within gestalt therapy are also relevant, especially the attention to existential dialogue and relational practices within the professional educational experience (Dawson, 2000). J. Harris (1999) highlighted the field theory aspect of therapist education and argued that the gestalt therapists' learning environment should value student autonomy within a supportive learning community that is therapeutic and educational. Meara and Levien (2005) identified that the education of gestalt therapists should be experiential, process orientated, and focused on developing the learner's dispositional "beingness" rather than their "doingness". Here, the literature highlights the need for gestalt therapist education to be congruent with gestalt therapy theory. However, the practice of psychotherapy is different from that of professional education, and gestalt institutes have drawn from adult education theories to support their curriculums (O'Regan et al., 2017).
Some theories of adult education complement gestalt therapist education and are used in the design of gestalt therapy curriculums (J. Harris, 1999; Meara & Levien, 2005; O'Regan et al., 2017). These theories tend to promote practices of experiential and experimental learning, including the use of theory and practice. Models such as Heron's (1989) experiential learning, Kolb's (1984) experiential learning, and Bateson's (1972) levels of learning model are referenced as models that are compatible with gestalt education (J. Harris, 1999; Meara & Levien, 2005). Using these models, gestalt education strives to incorporate divergent learning styles where valued learning is student centred and idiosyncratic; however, a completely humanistic student-centred learning program has not been adopted fully by gestalt institutes (J. Harris, 1999). Nevertheless, Woldt (2005) and Garcia et al. (2005) noted that some gestalt educators invite practices in which students are supported to investigate their learning process phenomenologically by noticing what figures of interest emerge and how they authentically meet their needs. The extent of these practices varies across institutes that are shaped and constrained by the nature of the curriculum and consequent assessment requirements. The humanistic and existential values of gestalt therapy underpin the training of gestalt therapists, but a wide variety of educational practices exists in gestalt institutes.
The settings for training gestalt therapists are typically gestalt institutes (O'Regan et al., 2017). Thus, the nature of the institute's educational framework shapes the nature of the education methodology for trainee gestalt therapists (Brownell & Melnick, 2008). Educational practices of institutes vary considerably, ranging from highly formalised training to highly informal (O'Regan et al., 2017). The original NYIGT does not regard itself as a training institute, rather as a collegial study and practice community (Bloom et al., 2014). Conversely, some institutes, such as the Metanoia Institute in London (Osborne, 2010) and Gestalt Therapy Brisbane, provide accredited higher degrees in gestalt therapy within higher education settings. These are higher education providers outside the university setting. Frew (2013) asserted that gestalt training, while rare, has at times existed and even thrived within certain academic settings in the United States. Gaffney (2013) described a similar situation in Europe and Britain. He detailed a gestalt-orientated PsyD program at Pacific University in the United States, which incorporates theory, research, and experiential learning, although that presence is waning (Frew, 2013, 2016). Mortola (2013) suggested that an embodied modality like gestalt education does not easily fit in the verbal and numeric domains valued in universities. He identified the need to find "eddies" in universities within which to apply gestalt principles.
I draw on these descriptions of gestalt professional education to argue that three different modes of provision are manifest, generally, within gestalt professional education: (a) unstructured and student-directed programs—these are non-accredited programs; (b) structured and multi-year non-credentialing programs—these are generally professionally accredited programs; and (c) formal higher education accredited and credentialing programs (O'Regan, 2021; O'Regan et al., 2017). The different modes of education reflect a deep philosophical variance in the practice of educating therapists (O'Regan, 2021). The NYIGT refuses to become a training institute because it rejects bureaucratic hierarchy (D. Bloom, personal communication, 6 June 2016). At the same time, other institutes provide education in the higher education sector as a response to the increasing demand for professional qualifications for psychotherapists as well as to ensure the financial sustainability of their practice (Meara & Levien, 2005). The tension between these positions has had limited attention within the gestalt literature. However, there is some discussion regarding the impact of the current regulatory environment of gestalt educational curriculums (O'Regan et al., 2017).
The nature of a gestalt training curriculum is shaped to an extent by the local regulatory requirements for accreditation as a psychotherapist and the demands of the increasing professionalisation of psychotherapy. In Europe and New Zealand, all psychotherapists must be accredited by the state, and accreditation requirements have shaped the curriculums and assessment processes of the institutes in these countries (Bar-Yoseph et al., 2008). In Australia, while this tends to position gestalt therapy education towards a more outcome-driven or instrumental educational approach that prioritises credentialing, limited literature exists on this impact or experiences of these issues in the gestalt community.
The Contemporary Cultural Context
The features of the contemporary cultural context include the transformation of the culture that incorporates and deconstructs the values of modernity, the concurrent and related rise of globalised capitalism and its associated neoliberalism, and the related transformation of the value and nature of knowledge and learning through performativity within the culture (O'Regan et al., 2017). The contemporary cultural context situates conditions that value certain practices and marginalise others (Bagnall, 2001; Bagnall & Hodge, 2017; O'Regan et al., 2017). It is described in relation to, and differentiated from, the preceding cultural tradition of modernity (Bagnall, 2001; Bauman, 1992; Lyotard, 1984).
Modernity emerged in Europe during the 17th century and is linked to the rise of science, reason, and systematic enquiry over providence and divine revelation as the source of knowledge (Howe, 1994). Modernist culture celebrated the Age of Reason and valued the positivist paradigm's preferencing of the human's ability to be, or design, a sterile instrument separate from the subject that could perceive and understand the world accurately and objectively (Howe, 1994). Within modernity, knowledge was categorised by its associated discipline and was gained by developing accurate instruments, including the rational mind, to uncover a truth about reality. This truth could be understood progressively over time, and past knowledge contributed to current understandings (Bagnall, 2001; Howe, 1994). Within modernity, knowledge was valued for its function of alleviating humanity of its ills and freeing humans from the shackles of ignorance through the dominance of science and the intellect over nature. Modernity has produced changes in technology, communication, and capitalism, resulting in a profound shift in contemporary culture.
In such a culture, the nature of knowledge has been transformed from an end in itself to a commodity produced in order to be sold (Lyotard, 1984). This mercantilisation of knowledge has shaped the nature of knowledge and how it is understood (Lyotard, 1984). Knowledge is no longer an end in itself. Rather, it has become commodified, produced, and consumed within a market; moreover, it has an exchange value (Roberts, 2013). Here, the legitimacy of knowledge is no longer attached to its truth but rather to its technical value (Edwards & Usher, 1994; Lyotard, 1984). Because knowledge has become a commodity, its efficient production and value to the economy become emphasised. This knowledge economy positions knowledge as a form of capital essential for economic success (Marginson, 2004; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010).
Within such a culture, valued knowledge is that which is aligned to efficiency and effectiveness within particular situations (Bagnall, 2002). Lyotard (1984) referred to such knowledge as "performative" knowledge that associates efficiency with "performativity". Performativity is a concept that involves decision-makers deploying measures of efficiency as the criteria to measure the value of knowledge (Edwards & Usher, 1994; Lyotard, 1984). Ball (2000) defined performativity as a form of regulation that "employs judgements, comparisons and displays as means of control, attrition and change", where the "performances (of individual subjects or organisations) serve as measures of productivity or output, or displays of 'quality', or 'moments' of promotion or inspection" (p. 1). Lyotard (1984) asserted that performativity in education has received special focus in contemporary culture because education is required to provide the skills for an efficient society.
The commodification of knowledge and associated rise of performativity has transformed the roles of the producers of knowledge. The contemporary cultural context, as referred to in above sections, is defined by disenchantment with metanarrative, the advance of technology, and the transformation of globalised capital. These cultural features have provided conditions for the rise of global neoliberalism. The doctrine underpinning neoliberalism is not clearly unified or coherent, yet has several common threads (Davies, 2014; Harvey, 2005).
Davies (2014) discussed the nature of disenchantment with metanarratives, including political discourse, and the assertion that market processes can replace ambiguous political processes with empirical, non-political, economic evaluations offered by the market. Such preferencing of the market is linked to the centrally defining characteristics of neoliberalism, which include hostility to ambiguity of political discourse; a commitment to the explicitness and transparency of quantitative economic indicators, of which the market system is the model; and disenchantment with politics by the more empirical model of economics (Davies, 2014; Harvey, 2005). Harvey (2005) stated that competition is the primary virtue in neoliberal thought that should exist in a setting (the neutral marketplace) where free choice determines an item's value. Neoliberalism values the idea of neutrality where facts are seen as more reliable than judgements, moral rules are replaced with market choice within the competitive market, and normativity is moved to the realm of audits (Davies, 2014; Jenkins, 2014). Davies (2014) asserted that the strivings of neoliberalism situate the auditor as an eminent figure in society existing outside politics, a "resolutely sceptical and empiricist technician, who is free to apply an efficiency audit to all institutions—public and private—equally, regardless of whether they appear 'economic' in character" (p. 96). The elevated role of the auditor and the neoliberal disenchantment with politics has transformed the role of the state within the neoliberal project. The neoliberal conditions of competition, privatisation, and audit must be monitored and enforced by systems of power and authority.
Competition, which is essential to the neoliberal vision, must be promoted by the neoliberal state. Rizvi and Lingard (2010) asserted that capitalism requires a strong state to develop and enforce policies that support capital accumulation. It is the state's role to release most institutions as well as cultural and social processes to the market and into the "realm of competition" (Davies, 2014, p. 68). However, the state must ensure accountability and efficiency through processes of governance or oversight. This performative governance is enacted in the public sector through new public management, within which knowledge itself has been redefined as capital (Olssen & Peters, 2005).
Neoliberalism assumes that individual freedoms are guaranteed by market freedom (Harvey, 2005). This assumption presupposes a specific view of the nature of the individual built on a classic liberal orientation (Olssen & Peters, 2005). Davies (2014) suggested an a priori notion of the individual exists within neoliberal philosophy: they are autonomous selves, separate from property, and existing in the marketplace. According to this individualistic view, people are self-interested, rational, and able to measure the cost–benefit of a product to them. Olssen and Peters (2005) added that the individual is an "enterprising and competitive entrepreneur" (p. 315). Davies (2014) noted that individuals within the current cultural context are understood as engaging in a cost–benefit analysis, not only within traditional markets, but in all non-market settings, including social networks and all institutions. In such a culture the individual is most understood as having freedom within a realm that allows competition (Davies, 2014). A significant body of literature indicates competition, performativity, privatisation, auditing, and managerialism have been imposed within the professional education sector aligned to policies concerned with managing the knowledge economy.
Professional Education Within the Contemporary Cultural Context
The cultural reforms emerging within the contemporary context are exemplified in government policies concerning professional education, which is perceived as an essential vehicle for the economic goals of the state (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). The contemporary cultural context is described as valuing teaching and learning practices that are instrumental in, extrinsic to, and align with efficiency and effectiveness in performative situations (Bagnall & Hodge, 2017). Such teaching and learning practices become instrumental because they are used to achieve other ends: they are extrinsic in that actions and behaviours are valued over a human being's disposition and they are performative in that these practices are promoted through standards and competencies (Ball, 2000; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). The intent of professional education then is to achieve more effective and efficient outcomes in a competitive economy (O'Regan et al., 2017). The state supports such methods of knowledge production by designing policies that shape the field of professional education, promote instrumental education by gatekeeping access to professions, and provide incentives to join specific educational settings (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). In this environment, professional education providers are offered incentives from the state, such as income-contingent loans (FEE-HELP in the Australian context) and graduate access to Medicare rebates (e.g., through studying psychology) to offer education aligned to valued knowledge (O'Regan et al., 2017).
These incentives tend to be directed to formal accredited settings such as higher education, for example, income-contingent loans for students, direct funding to institutes, formal credentialing of institutional qualifications, and regulated graduate entry to professional associations (O'Regan et al., 2017). However, all types of provision are affected by policies that have seen a transformation from humanistic and social democratic education policies towards the economisation of education policy (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010). These policies shape the practices of professional education institutions, which transform their emphasis from idealistic or humanistic endeavours to more functional or skills-based processes. Ball (2012) described a redefinition of the purpose of knowledge production within the context of the market when he defined performativity as linking "effort, values, purposes and self-understanding to measures and comparisons of output" (p. 19).
The Challenge for Gestalt Professional Education
An earlier paper (O'Regan, 2021) built the case that gestalt training institutes were enticed to co-opt the benefits of higher education or relevant professional associations. Shifting to these forms of provision risk compromising the underpinning values of gestalt (O'Regan et al., 2017). Meara and Levien (2005), in their discussion of the experience of those within gestalt institutes under a regulated environment, noted the emerging interest in professional qualifications for potential students at gestalt institutes in Australia and New Zealand. That interest, along with the professionalisation of psychotherapy, has drawn gestalt institutes into regulated practice and towards the higher education sector (Meara & Levien, 2005).
The attraction of institutes towards accreditation and higher education qualifications presents an ethical challenge to gestalt institutes. Dawson (2000) stated that a shift in training emphasis towards evidenced-based qualifications risks compromising the values of gestalt therapy. This risk, according to Dawson (2000), presented gestalt training institutes with a dilemma between sustainability and value congruence. Gestalt educators, such as Belinda Harris (2010), asserted that the contemporary education policy environment is "linked to systems of targets and performativity" (p. 20) in order to meet the demands of global capitalism. Furthermore, B. Harris (2010) argued that the resultant instrumental forms of education are contrary to the core values of gestalt.
This paper has discussed certain challenges existing in the delivery of a congruent gestalt training program. The management of these tensions has required responses from the providers of gestalt professional education. It is hoped that the issues presented in this paper set the scene for a detailed discussion based on how these challenges have been understood and managed by relevant players. The author (O'Regan, 2021) of this paper has recently completed an empirical study (PhD) exploring the experiences of gestalt education providers in managing the challenges suggested in this paper. It is hoped that further writing reporting on the results of that project will be produced soon.
The author would like to acknowledge his academic supervisors, Emeritus Professor Richard G. Bagnall and Dr. Steven Hodge, for supporting the production of his PhD thesis, from which this paper is drawn.
There is no direct financial relationship between this or any other organisation and the research project related to this article.
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Bagnall, R., & Hodge, S. (2017). Using an epistemological perspective to understand competency based vocational and professional education. In M. Mulder (Ed.), Competence-based vocational and professional education: Bridging the worlds of work and education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41713-4_6
Ball, S. (2000). Performativities and fabrications in the education economy: Towards the performative society? Australian Educational Researcher, 27(2), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219719
Ball, S. (2012). Performativity, commodification and commitment: An I-spy guide to the neoliberal university. British Journal of Educational Studies, 60(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2011.650940
Barber, P. (2006). Keeping psychotherapy trainees in "their place": How training institutions can stifle love and breed compliance. International Gestalt Journal, 29(2), 97.
Barlow, S. (2016). Gestalt therapeutic practice, psychotherapists and people with chronic pain: A literature review. Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand, 12(2), 47–70.
Bar-Yoseph, T., Brownell, P., O'Neil, B., & Phillipson, P. (2008). Training of therapists. In P. Brownell (Ed.), Handbook for theory, research, and practice in gestalt therapy, (pp. 104–123). Cambridge Scholars Publishing; Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95942-9
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Bloom, D. (2009). The phenomenological method of Gestalt therapy: Revisiting Husserl to discover the "essence" of Gestalt therapy. Gestalt Review, 13(3), 277–295. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.13.3.0277
Bloom, D. (2011). One good turn deserves another, and another, and another: Personal reflections. Gestalt Review, 15(3), 296–311. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.15.3.0296
Bloom, D. (2020). Gesalt therapy and phenomenology: The intersecting parallel lines. In P. Brownell (Ed.), Handbook for theory, research, and practice in Gestalt therapy (2nd ed., pp. 183–202). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Bloom, D., Féliculis, S., & Béjà, V. (2014). The New York Institute for Gestalt-Therapy. Training in an institute that is not a training institute [L'institut de New York pour la Gestalt-thérapie]. Gestalt, 44(1), 8–19. https://doi.org/10.3917/gest.044.0008 (English translation provided by author)
Brownell, P. (2010). Gestalt therapy: A guide to contemporary practice. Springer.
Brownell, P., & Melnick, J. (2008). Gestalt therapy research communities. In P. Brownell (Ed.), Handbook for theory, research, and practice in Gestalt therapy (pp. 278–291). Cambridge Scholars.
Buber, M. (1996). I and thou: A new translation with a prologue and notes (W. Kaufman, Trans.). Simon and Shuster. (Original work published 1923)
Burley, T., & Bloom, D. (2008). Phenomenological method. In P. Brownell (Ed.), Handbook for theory, research, and practice in Gestalt therapy (pp. 151–184). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Cain, D. (2002). Defining characteristics, history, and evolution of humanistic psychotherapies. In D. J. Cain (Ed.), Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10439-001
Clarkson, P. (1989). Gestalt therapy in action. Sage.
Davies, W. (2014). The limits of neoliberalism: Authority, sovereignty and the logic of competition. Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473906075
Dawson, J. (2000). Training with a different lens. British Gestalt Journal, 9(2), 120–125.
Dublin, J. (1976). Gestalt therapy, existential-Gestalt therapy, and/versus Perls-ism. In E. Smith, W. (Ed.), The growing edge of Gestalt therapy. Brunner/Mazal.
Edwards, R., & Usher, R. (1994). Postmodernism and education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203945001
Evans, K. (2007). Living in the 21st century: A Gestalt therapist's search for a new paradigm. Gestalt Review, 11(3), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.11.3.0190
Fairfield, M. (2013). The relational movement. British Gestalt Journal, 22(1), 22–35.
Fairfield, M., & O'Shea, L. (2008). Getting beyond individualism. British Gestalt Journal, 17(2), 24–38.
Frew, J. (2013). Gestalt training and research: Holding our place in academic institutions in the USA. Gestalt Review, 17(3), 263–271. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.17.3.0263
Frew, J. (2016). Gestalt therapy: Creatively adjusting in an increasingly diverse world. British Gestalt Review, 20(2), 106–128. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.20.2.0106
Gaffney, S. (2010). Roots of Gestalt in education. British Gestalt Journal, 19(1), 5–10.
Gaffney, S. (2013). Commentary II: Gestalt therapy training and research. Gestalt Review, 17(3), 279–283.https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.17.3.0279
Garcia, C., Baker, S., & De Mayo, R. (2005). Gestalt educational therapy. In A. Woldt & S. Tolman (Eds.), Gestalt therapy: History, theory, and practice (pp. 301–317). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452225661.n16
Harris, B. (2010). Reclaiming the radical legacy of Gestalt education in contemporary educational practice. British Gestalt Journal, 19(1), 19–26.
Harris, J. (1999). A Gestalt approach to learning and teaching. British Gestalt Journal, 8(2), 85–95.
Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199283262.001.0001
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Howe, D. (1994). Modernity, postmodernity and social work. British Journal of Social Work, 24(5), 513–532. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjsw.a056103
Hycner, R. (1985). Dialogical Gestalt therapy: An initial proposal. The Gestalt Journal, 8(1), 23–49.
Jacobs, L. (1989). Dialogue in Gestalt theory and therapy. The Gestalt Journal, 12(1), 25–67.
Jenkins, F. (2014). Gendered hierarchies of knowledge and the prestige factor: How philosophy survives market rationality. In M. Thorton (Ed.), Through the glass darkly: The social sciences look at the neoliberal university (pp. 49–58). ACU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/TGD.11.2015.03
Joyce, P., & Sills, C. (2010). Skills in Gestalt counselling and psychotherapy. Sage.
Knapp, T. (1986). Ralph Franklin Hefferline: The Gestalt therapist among the Skinnerians or the Skinnerian among the Gestalt therapists? Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 22(1), 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1002/1520-6696(198601)22:1%3C49::aid-jhbs2300220106%3E3.0.co;2-k
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning. Prentice-Hall.
Lahood, G. (2013). Therapeutic democracy: The roots and potential fruits of a Gestalt-assisted collaborative inquiry. Gestalt Review, 17(2), 119–148. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.17.2.0119
Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (G. Massumi., Trans.). Manchester University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/1772278
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Meara, A., & Levien, B. (2005). Teaching Gestalt therapy in a regulatory environment. Gestalt Review, 9(3), 310–322. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/gestaltreview.9.3.0310
Mortola, P. (2013). Commentary I. Eddy in the mainstream: Gestalt subversion amidst academic tyranny. Gestalt Review, 17(3), 272–287. https://doi.org/10.5325/gestaltreview.17.3.0272
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O'Regan, P., Bagnall, R. G., & Hodge, S. (2017). The challenge of providing training for Gestalt therapists in the contemporary cultural context: Where to from here? Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand, 14(1), 77–92.
O'Regan, P. (2021). Positioning Gestalt professional education in the changing cultural context: The experiences of providers [Doctoral dissertation, Griffith University]. Griffith Theses. https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/4158
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Perls, F., Hefferline, R., & Goodman, P. (1994). Gestalt therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality. The Gestalt Journal Press. (Original work published 1951)
Perls, L. (1992). Concepts and misconceptions of Gestalt therapy. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 32(3), 50–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167892323004
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Smith, W. (1976). The roots of Gestalt therapy. In W. Smith. (Ed.), The growing edge of Gestalt therapy. Brunner/Mazel Publishers.
Spagnuolo Lobb, M. (2013). The now for next: Gestalt therapy recounted in postmodern society. Gestalt Institute of Italy.
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Stoehr, T. (1994). Here, now, next: Paul Goodman and the origins of Gestalt therapy. Jossey-Bass.
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Wagner-Moore, L. E. (2004). Gestalt therapy: Past, present, theory, and research. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 41(2), 180–189. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-3204.41.2.180
Wheeler, G. (2000). Beyond individualism: Toward a new understanding of self, relationship, and experience. Gestalt Institute of Cleveland Press.
Wheeler, G., & Axelsson, L. (2015). Gestalt therapy. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14527-000
Woldt, A. (2005). Gestalt pedagogy: Creating the field for teaching and learning. In A. Woldt & S. Tolman (Eds.), Gestalt therapy: History, theory and practice (pp. xv–xxvii). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452225661
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Dr. Patrick (Paddy) O'Regan (PhD) is a social worker and gestalt therapist. He lectures at Griffith University in the School of Health Sciences and Social Work as well as conducting a small private practice. Dr. O'Regan was the director and co-owner of a gestalt training institute between 2014 and 2020 and a trainer at the same organisation between 2007 and 2019. He has an affinity for gestalt therapy and its underpinning values.


Sikhism is the fifth-largest religion in the world. The Sikh religion is also one of the newest and has only been in existence for about 500 years. About 25 million Sikhs are living around the world. Sikhs live in almost every major country. About half a million Sikhs live in the United States. If you are a newcomer to Sikhism, and curious about what Sikhs believe, here some common questions and answers about the Sikh religion and Sikhism beliefs.
Sikhism began around 1500 A.D, in the northern part of ancient Punjab, which is now part of Pakistan. It originated with the teachings of Guru Nanak who rejected the philosophies of the Hindu society that he grew up in. Refusing to participate in Hindu rites, he argued against the caste system and preached equality of humanity. Denouncing the worship of demigods and goddesses, Nanak became a traveling minstrel. Going from village to village, he sang in praise of one God.
Sikhs believe in one creator inseparable from creation. Part and participle of one another, the creator exists within creation pervading and permeating every aspect of all that is. The creator watches over and cares for creation. The way to experience God is through creation and by meditating inwardly on the divine character of the manifest self which is in tune with the unmanifest and illimitable, creative infinity known to Sikhs as Ik Onkar.
The ten founders of Sikhism are considered by Sikhs to have been spiritual masters or saints. Each of them contributed to Sikhism in unique ways. Many of the texts in the Guru Granth advise the seeker of spiritual enlightenment to seek the company of saints. Sikhs consider the scripture of the Granth to be their eternal Guru and therefore the saint, or guide, whose instruction is the means of spiritual salvation. Enlightenment is considered to be an ecstatic state of realization of one's divine inner connection with the creator and all of creation.
Sikhism's Holy Scripture is known formally as Siri Guru Granth Sahib. The Granth is a volume of text containing 1430 Ang (parts or pages) of poetic verse written in raag, the classic Indian system of 31 musical measures. Guru Granth Sahib is compiled from the writings of Sikh Gurus, Hindus, and Muslims. The Granth Sahib has been formally inaugurated as the Guru of the Sikhs for all time.
Prayer and meditation are an integral part of Sikhism necessary to reduce the effect of ego and bond the soul with the divine. Both are performed, either silently, or aloud, individually, and in groups. In Sikhism prayer takes the form of selected verses from Sikh scriptures to read on a daily basis. Meditation is achieved by reciting a word or phrase of scripture repeatedly.
Sikhism teaches a belief in one divine essence having no one particular shape or form, which is manifest in every one of the countless myriads of forms of existence. Sikhism is against worshiping images and icons as a focal point for any aspect of the divine and does not relate to any hierarchy of demigods or goddesses.
The proper name for the Sikh place of worship is Gurdwara. There is no particular day set aside for Sikh worship services. Meetings and program are scheduled for the convenience of the congregation. Where the membership is large enough, formal Sikh worship services may begin as early as 3 am and continue until about 9 pm. On special occasions, services go on all night until daybreak. The gurdwara is open to all people without regard to caste, creed, or color. Visitors to the gurdwara are required to cover the head and remove shoes and may have no alcohol of tobacco on their person.
In Sikhism, the equivalent to baptism is the Amrit ceremony of rebirth. Sikh initiates drink an elixir prepared from sugar and water stirred with a sword. Initiates agree to give their head and sever ties with their former way of life in a symbolic gesture of surrendering their ego. Initiates adhere to a strict spiritual and secular moral code of conduct which includes wearing four symbols of faith and keeping all hair intact forever more.
Sikhs do not proselytize or seek to convert those of other faiths. Sikh scripture does address meaningless religious rituals, urging the devotee, regardless of faith, to discover the deep and true spiritual meaning of religion values rather than merely observing rites. Historically the Sikhs stood up for oppressed peoples subjected to forced conversion. Ninth Guru Teg Bahadar sacrificed his life on behalf of Hindus being forcibly converted to Islam. The gurdwara or Sikh worship place is open to all people regardless of faith. Sikhism does embrace anyone regardless of caste color or creed who wishes to convert to the Sikh way of life by choice.
In Sikhism tithe is known as Das Vand or tenth share of income. Sikhs may give Das Vand as monetary contributions or in a variety of other ways according to their means including gifts of goods and performing community service which benefits the Sikh community or others.
The Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, makes references to demons mentioned in Vedic legends primarily for illustrative purposes. There is no belief system in Sikhism which focuses on demons or devils. Sikh teachings center on ego and its effect on the soul. Indulging in unbridled egoism may render a soul subject to demonic influences and the realms of darkness which abide within one's own consciousness.
Transmigration is a common theme in Sikhism. The soul travels through countless lifetimes in a perpetual cycle of birth and death. Each lifetime the soul is subject to the influences of past deeds and is cast into existences within various realms of consciousness and planes of awareness. In Sikhism, the concept of salvation and immortality is enlightenment and liberation from the effects ego so that transmigration ceases and one merges with the divine.


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Indian farmers suspend year-long protest against new laws
Dec 9, 2021, 3:51 AM | Updated: 3:58 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of Indian farmers suspended a year-long protest on Thursday after the government withdrew contentious farm laws and set up a committee to consider their other demands, including guaranteed prices for key crops and the withdrawal of criminal cases against the protesters.
"It's a big victory for farmers. We have forced the government to bow to our demands," said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a farmer leader. He said they will review on Jan. 15 the steps taken by the government and decide their future course of action.
"We have suspended our protest, not ended it," said Gurnam Singh Chandoni, another leader.
Farmers started removing their tents and prepared to vacate highways ringing New Delhi where they have camped since November last year. Leaders said they will leave after celebrating their victory on Saturday.
Most are from the neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
A breakthrough came this week when the farmers' leaders received letters from the government listing steps it would take to meet their demands. In an about-turn last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the withdrawal of the farm laws passed by Parliament in September last year.
The government had insisted that the laws, which would lead to a deregulated market with more private-sector control of agriculture, were urgently needed to modernize Indian farming.
The protesters said the laws would drastically reduce their incomes and leave them at the mercy of big corporations. They demanded that the government guarantee prices for certain essential crops such as wheat and rice, a system introduced in the 1960s to help India shore up its food reserves and prevent shortages.
Currently, an overwhelming majority of farmers sell only to government-sanctioned marketplaces at fixed prices.
Farmers form one of India's most influential voting blocs. Modi's decision to scrap the laws came ahead of elections early next year in key states Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, where his Bharatiya Janata Party is eager to increase its power.
The protest, which drew international support, has been largely peaceful. However, violence erupted on Jan. 26 when thousands of farmers briefly took over New Delhi's historic Red Fort and hoisted a Sikh religious flag. Most are members of the Sikh minority. At least one farmer died and a number of protesters and police were injured.
Farmers' leaders say more than 500 protesters have died due to suicide, bitter cold weather and COVID-19 since November last year and the government should pay 500,000 rupees ($6,750) in compensation per family. But the government says it has no figures on the number of deaths during the movement.
Hong Kong (AP) — Hong Kong will give away air tickets and vouchers to woo tourists back to the international financial hub, racing to catch up with other popular travel destinations in a fierce regional competition. During the pandemic, the city largely aligned itself with mainland China's "zero-COVID" strategy and has relaxed its entry rules […]
LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates by as much as half a percentage point Thursday as it seeks to tame the double-digit inflation fueling a cost-of-living crisis, public-sector strikes and fears of recession. The move would push the U.K.'s key rate to 4%. Economists suggest this may be […]
BAGHDAD (AP) — For months, the United States has restricted Iraq's access to its own dollars, trying to stamp out what Iraqi officials describe as rampant money laundering that benefits Iran and Syria. Iraq is now feeling the crunch, with a drop in the value of its currency and public anger blowing back against the […]
TOKYO (AP) — Sony appointed a veteran executive as its president Thursday to lead the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate through times of change. Hiroki Totoki, Sony's chief financial officer, will become the president and COO, Sony Corp. said in a statement. Kenichiro Yoshida remains chairman and chief executive, signaling continuity at the Tokyo-based maker […]
BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets gained Thursday after the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy is moving toward lower inflation but more interest rate hikes are planned. Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney advanced. Oil prices rose. Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index closed 1% higher after the Fed raised its key lending rate […]
Here's what the Fed interest rate hike means for you
NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve raised its key rate by a quarter point Wednesday, bringing it to the highest level in 15 years as part of an ongoing effort to ease inflation by making borrowing more expensive. The rate increase will likely make it even costlier to borrow for homes, autos and other […]
Sports gambling can be fun for adults, but it's a dangerous game for children
While adults may find that sports gambling is a way to enhance the experience with more than just fandom on the line, it can be a dangerous proposition if children get involved in the activity.
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Why DISC is world renowned for back and neck pain treatments
Fifty percent of Americans and 90% of people at least 50 years old have some level of degenerative disc disease.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


For owners of jet skis, having invested in your own personal watercraft and aware of the need for jet ski insurance, QuoteRack offers you help in arranging jet ski insurance cover at competitive premiums.
"My Sea Doo and its trailer needed insuring for the new season and finding cheap insurance for a jet ski turned out to be a lot easier and cheaper than I had expected."
Whatever make of jet ski you own, including the Yamaha Waverunner, the Sea Doo or Kawasaki Jet Ski's, you will find it cheap and easy to insure your personal watercraft here.
Jet skis are often referred to as personal watercraft, defined as any marine craft you sit on, rather than in. Originally invented by Kawasaki from an adapted snowmobile, jet ski's are now popular around the world, both as a hobby and as a sport.
"It's not just the jet ski that needs insurance cover, there is a whole range of accessories that needs insurance as well."
"Most of the time my jet ski sits on its trailer at home but it still requires insurance cover, as well as when I'm actually using it."
"It's not just the jet ski that needs insurance, you also need liability insurance in case you injure someone while you're using the jet ski."


text:
Nokia 7.1 with 5.84-inch FHD+ HDR PureDisplay, Dual rear cameras and SD 636 SoC launched in India at Rs. 19999
HMD Global, the company which now owns Nokia has launched their latest smartphone, the Nokia 7.1 in India. This is going to be the company's latest mid-range smartphone in India which was announced last month. The Nokia 7.1 comes with the same design as its earlier models with a notch on the top, it comes with a 5.84-inch Ful HD+ display having Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The display is called as HDR as it supports DR and also supports SD to HDR real-time conversion. It also cupports 1 million: 1 dynamic contrast ratio; 500-million pixels processed per second providing smooth and accurate HDR video.
It is powered by a 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 processor with Adreno 509 GPU, it is coupled with 4GB of LPDD4 RAM and 64GB internal storage (eMMC 5.1) which can be expanded up to 400GB using microSD card. The SIM / microSD slot is a Hybrid Dual SIM slot – nano+ nano/microSD. The Nokia 7.1 sports a 12MP rear sensor (RGB) with LED flash, f/1.8 aperture, ZEISS optics and a 5MP Monochrome secondary sensor with f/2.4 aperture. The front camera is a 8MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture.
Display: 5.84-inch (2244 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ HDR 10 display with 19:9 aspect ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
Processor: 1.8GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 636 14nm Mobile Platform with Adreno 509 GPU
RAM and Storage: 4GB LPPDDR4x RAM, 64GB (eMMC 5.1) internal storage, expandable memory up to 400GB with microSD
Camera: 12MP (RGB) rear camera with dual LED flash, f/1.8 aperture,1.28 um pixel size, ZEISS optics, EIS, 5MP (Monochrome) secondary rear camera with f/2.4 aperture, 1.12um pixel size and an 8MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, 84-degree FOV
OS: Android 8.1 (Oreo), upgradable to Android 9.0 (Pie)
Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD), Fingerprint sensor, Nokia OZO audio, 3.5 mm headphone jack, FM Radio,
Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Bluetooth 5, GPS + GLONASS, Type-C 2.0, NFC
Battery: 3060mAh battery with fast charging
he Nokia 7.1 runs on Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box which is said to get the latest Android 9 Pie update shortly. It comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, supports FM Radio and comes with Nokia OZO audio. It supports Dual 4G VoLTE, WiFi 802.11 ac, Bluetooth 5. It is powered by a 3060mAh battery and supports fast charging.
The Nokia 7.1 is priced at Rs. 19,999 and is available in Gloss Midnight Blue and gloss Steel colors. It will be available in Offline retail stores along with Nokia.com/phones starting from December 7th.


As other users have noticed in posts like this one, Command Window is a toolwindow that isn't available in Visual Studio editions to be explicitly displayed by the user. The menu commands used to display the window are not available.
Immediate Window is another related toolwindow that can be used to display variables' values, evaluate expressions, and to execute commands. The Immediate Window is automatically displayed when entering Debug mode. It can also be displayed on-demand by using the Debug/Windows/ImmediateWindow (Ctrl+D, I) menu item.
Command Window displays automatically a ">" prompt and the user only has to type command names. To execute commands in Immediate Window, the user has to explicitly type the commands by prefixing them with ">". Full Intellisense support is available here, same as in Command Window. Pre-defined aliases also work fine (of course, trying to execute commands that don't exist, aka forcing the display of CommandWindow won't work).
A second workaround is to use the Find combobox.
Then, in the Find combo you can type commands by starting them with ">", and the full functionality of Command Window will be available there (with Intellisense, aliases like "of", etc).
The only Professional feature related to Command Window that can't be workaround in Express editions is redirecting the output to a file. The Tools.LogCommandWindowOutput ("log" alias) and Tools.ImmediateMode ("immed" alias) are not available either. Anyway, you won't need the last one since you are already in Immediate Window, can manually display the toolwindow or execute ">Debug.Immediate" instead from Find combo.


Our Margo bracelet is our go to stacker. Made with faceted gemstones and featuring a bezel set Crystal Quartz briolette charm, these easy to wear stretchy bracelets are a fashionista must have. This sparkling Crystal Quartz bracelet would look amazing on any bride and her bridal party.
* Made with faceted Crystal Quartz gemstones.
* Sterling silver bezel set Crystal Quartz briolette charm.


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Save the planet by not flying to football matches
Steve N Allen
I hate to say it but Extinction Rebellion might be on to something, writes Steve N Allen.
They plan to fly drones near Heathrow Airport to stop the flights. That part is wrong.
A drone shouldn't be used to cause danger and disruption.
It should be used for its intended purpose, to let grown men play with toys they wish they had in the 80s and to help them spend less time with their families.
The main point though, that we should stop pointless flights, is a good one.
Recently, we saw the UK airspace at its busiest because of all the football fans flying to see games in Europe.
The last time the air was that busy it was probably World War Two and at least we came back from Europe with a win that time.
None of the football fan flights needed to happen.
Recently, we had people flying to Baku to see two London clubs.
Firstly, you shouldn't fly to a place that sounds like a budget fridge.
Secondly, that's a match you could see in London – it was filmed.
They say you should try to Skype into work rather than travel.
The cameras in the stadium are way better than the laptop webcam that's aimed up the nose of Richard from sales.
Hundreds of crimes went unsolved at Nottinghamshire railway stations last year
If you just waited till those teams were playing nearer to you you'd also save time and not have to bribe your way out of as many jails.
If we can save the carbon that's spent flying thousands of fans round the world to see two teams that were flown there too we can make the world a better place.
And then the biggest waste of aviation fuel will be all the A-list celebs that take private jets around the world to take part in Extinction Rebellion protests.
More from Retford Guardian


A token of appreciation and encouragement is welcomed by everyone. A true leader will always give appreciation messages to team in order to build up their confidence.
The feeling of being appreciated is one of the greatest joys a person can have. Gratefulness should come from your heart and not just from your mouth.
You have shown true signs of the fact that strength and success lies in unity. Each and every member of your team deserves heartfelt appreciation. Well done and continue to achieve excellence.
TEAM is best abbreviated as [highlight highlightColor="highlight-lightblue" ]TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE![/highlight] You have proved the fact that team work is the best way to achieve success. Heartfelt appreciation to each one of you for your dedication, commitment, perseverance and determination.
When we work together, we achieve more. The entire team of financial department deserves appreciation and applauds for the kind of works and determination that they have shown. We feel lucky to have such hardworking and dedicative employees at our company; your achievement surely calls for a party!
It is only because of you people and your team that we have reached this new height and all I can say to you is thank you.
Of the many things that I have learnt from your team is the ability of working towards a common goal with a common vision.
Working here as a team has made me grow as an individual.
As a team we have gone through a lot of thick and thin but I knew at the end of the day we will all laugh together and work together as a team.
We will win together and lose together but no matter what we will stick together.


Jessica Reyes serves as a grants program manager with Notre Dame Research. Jessica previously served as Notre Dame Turbomachinery Lab's business program coordinator. Jessica also worked part-time for NDR pre-award several years ago. Jessica is a graduate of Indiana University South Bend, receiving a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 2015.


"The only natural enemy of the hole is the pile."
Now, I tend to think in terms either over-specific or too vague when talking about the movie generally. So I'll just ramble a bit about what I'm thinking.
I tend to prefer a pre-Raphaelite frame with some depth to it -- my preference is for elegance rather than grotesqueness or Mannerist compositions. That being said, we will actually be using a fairly shallow depth-of-field on this picture (which I'll get to in a minute).
Aesthetically we've tended to either build frames out of specific odalisques or paintings which amuse us, or to alter the shooting style to match the kind of scene we're doing -- whether we go handheld or use big elegant sweeping dolly moves, etc.
In reference to science fiction movies we certainly have quoted Star Wars quite a bit visually in the past although I think that things more like Blade Runner interiors for our interiors would be more likely what we'll go for. The sequence in the original Alien where Harry Dean Stanton goes to look for the cat also has some of the color palate we're going for although none of our locations have that specific look to them at all, and we'll likely be lighting half with florescent lights with a mix of Source 4's and tungsten and halogen 100w lights. The most obvious comparison will end up being to the Firefly series (and the feature Serenity) because of the "Western" aspect of the script although I don't know how much "old West" will survive the final aesthetic.
The android references probably have more to do with the character of the Major in the anime "Ghost in the Shell" series. But the thing I can think of closest in performance to the android is the Ripley character in Alien IV.
Sometimes we try to emulate "comic book" types of framing in order to create a particular dynamic to the shot and to the scene.
Technically we will be shooting high-definition on a Panasonic HVX200 camera however we will also be using a 35mm adapter and a set of prime lenses so that the camera has the same depth of field of a 35mm camera. I assure you that no distributor we take it to will think we shot on anything other than 35mm.
Personally, I like an infinite depth-of-field but distributors have learned to not like it. So we'll shoot as much as we can with an 85mm lens wide open to make that big beautiful "portrait" look.
Of course, none of that matters. The only thing which people respond to is how the movie sounds. If it sounds good, it looks good. If it sounds bad, it looks bad.
Does any of that help?"
I bet the answer to that question is "no".
Today I made up a new emoticon. The happy bear.
Update: that actor isn't interested in our show. That's OK, we didn't offer any roles to her!


text:
Q: How to fix this 2 issue by php (edit user from admin)? Currently: user can be changed through admin and a problem comes if I empty the pass form... a new hashed pass is saved in the database and the user can no longer login with the old pass... where as pass form was blank.
So I need to fix these two issues....
How do I do that ?
1) Username cant be change by admin through admin panel.
2) If Password form empty, hashed password will not change to database auto .
<?php

//if form has been submitted process it
if(isset($_POST['submit'])){

    //collect form data
    extract($_POST);

    //very basic validation
    if($username ==''){
        $error[] = 'Please enter the username.';
    }

    if( strlen($password) > 0){

        if($password ==''){
            $error[] = 'Please enter the password.';
        }

        if($passwordConfirm ==''){
            $error[] = 'Please confirm the password.';
        }

        if($password != $passwordConfirm){
            $error[] = 'Passwords do not match.';
        }

    }

    if($email ==''){
        $error[] = 'Please enter the email address.';
    }

    if(!isset($error)){

        try {

            if(isset($password)){

                $hashedpassword = $user->password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);

                //update into database
                $stmt = $db->prepare('UPDATE blog_members SET username = :username, password = :password, email = :email WHERE memberID = :memberID') ;
                $stmt->execute(array(
                    ':username' => $username,
                    ':password' => $hashedpassword,
                    ':email' => $email,
                    ':memberID' => $memberID
                ));

            } else {

                //update database
                $stmt = $db->prepare('UPDATE blog_members SET username = :username, email = :email WHERE memberID = :memberID') ;
                $stmt->execute(array(
                    ':username' => $username,
                    ':email' => $email,
                    ':memberID' => $memberID
                ));

            }

            //redirect to index page
            header('Location: users.php?action=updated');
            exit;

        } catch(PDOException $e) {
            echo $e->getMessage();
        }

    }

}

?>

<?php
//check for any errors
if(isset($error)){
    foreach($error as $error){
        echo $error.'
';
    }
}

    try {

        $stmt = $db->prepare('SELECT memberID, username, email FROM blog_members WHERE memberID = :memberID') ;
        $stmt->execute(array(':memberID' => $_GET['id']));
        $row = $stmt->fetch();

    } catch(PDOException $e) {
        echo $e->getMessage();
    }

?>

<form action='' method='post'>
    <input type='hidden' name='memberID' value='<?php echo $row['memberID'];?>'>

Username

    <input type='text' name='username' value='<?php echo $row['username'];?>'>

Password (only to change)

    <input type='password' name='password' value=''>

Confirm Password

    <input type='password' name='passwordConfirm' value=''>

Email

    <input type='text' name='email' value='<?php echo $row['email'];?>'>

<input type='submit' name='submit' value='Update User'>

</form>

A: Make username field readonly. For second check below code.
If (empty($password))
{
  //update rest of info using query and skip password updation
}

else
{
  //update everything including password
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Tech›
The 20 best smartphones in the world
Antonio Villas-BoasJan 24, 2018, 19:44 IST
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Get ready for a wave of new smartphones.
Mobile World Congress, the wireless industry's annual global confab, is about a month away. Every year MWC kicks off a series of announcements from phone manufacturers about new devices.
In addition to offering consumers new choices, the new devices also typically lead us to revise our list of top phones on the market. In many cases, though, we already have an inkling of what's coming.
Whether you're in the market for a phone right now or can wait until after the big show, we've got you covered.
Check out our list of the top 20 smartphones you can buy - and our picks for the ones to look forward to.
EXCLUSIVE FREE SLIDE DECK:
The Next Smartphone by the BI Intelligence Research Team.
Get the Slide Deck Now »
View As: One Page Slides
20. BlackBerry KeyOne
The KeyOne is BlackBerry's successor to the Priv. Both run Android and feature physical keyboards. But while the Priv's keyboard slid out from behind its screen, the KeyOne's is permanently located just below its display.
The KeyOne is a great device for those who want both a physical keyboard and access to Google's apps and services, which aren't available on other BlackBerry devices.
Read the BlackBerry KeyOne review »
19. Sony XZ Premium
Jeff Dunn, my former colleague, reviewed this phone for Business Insider and summed it up perfectly:
On the one hand, "this is a good phone," he wrote. "The screen is great, the software is clean, and the whole thing is superfast."
But on the other, "with its underwhelming battery and slippery, sometimes uncomfortable design, it's not the device that should reverse Sony's fortunes."
Previously priced at $800, the XZ Premium is now available for less than $600 on Amazon, making living with its shortcomings much more palatable.
Read the Sony XZ Premium review »
18. Motorola Moto G5 Plus
The Moto G5 Plus continues to be our favorite budget-friendly Android smartphone. It demonstrates that "good-but-not-great hardware can become [a] strong value at the right price," as Dunn said in his review.
With the G5 Plus, you get a 5.2-inch 1080p screen, a fingerprint scanner, great battery life, a 12-megapixel camera that beats those of other phones in its price range, a nearly pristine version of Android, and a sleek design. All for a mere $200.
Still, the G5 Plus doesn't have as many features as premium phones. For example, it doesn't have an NFC antenna, so it can't be used for mobile payments. And to charge the device, you'll have to use a microUSB cable; it doesn't support USB-C, the newer, faster phone-charging standard.
Read the Moto G5 Plus review »
Wait for it: Lenovo's Motorola unit is expected to announce the Moto G6, the replacement for the G5 Plus, at MWC. Check out the rumors at the end of this list.
17. Motorola Moto G5S Plus
The Moto G5S Plus is an upgrade from the G5 Plus.
The newer phone features an all-metal design, whereas the older one has a half-metal, half-plastic case. The G5S Plus also has a bigger screen — a 5.5-inch display versus 5.2-inch one.
But one of the biggest improvements is in its camera. The G5S Plus has a 13-megapixel dual-lens camera system.
16. Motorola Moto Z2 Force
The Moto Z2 Force comes with everything you'd expect from a premium smartphone. As Dunn noted in his review, it's "very fast, its screen looks good, its cameras are capable of taking nice photos, and it has a razor-thin frame." And its 5.5-inch AMOLED display is more resistant to cracking than most other smartphones' screens.
However, the Z2 Force is a little too reliant on Motorola's Mods. Those are the company's line of snap-on accessories, including external speakers and bigger batteries, that are designed for its Z-series phones. Without such Mods, the Z2 Force doesn't really measure up to the devices that rank higher on this list.
Check out the Moto Z2 Force review »
15. Apple iPhone SE/6S/6S Plus
I grouped all these together because they are all two-years-old, have similar specs, and are still available from Apple. They're also still amazing smartphones.
Last fall, Apple released iOS 11, the latest version of its mobile operating system, and my iPhone 6S Plus still runs great with it.
The SE, 6S, and 6S Plus all feature great cameras and Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which allows you to quickly unlock your phone. Another bonus: These are the last iPhones that still have headphone jacks.
These phones are even better if you buy them refurbished from Apple; you'll get a deep discount if you do.
iPhone SE price: $350
iPhone 6S price: $450
iPhone 6S Plus price: $550
Read the iPhone SE review »
Read the iPhone 6S review »
14. HTC U11
The U11 has an excellent camera, an eye-catching reflective back, and speedy performance. And it has a fun feature that allows you to squeeze its edges to open any app you want, including Google Assistant.
In most respects, it's a great Android smartphone. But it has two notable shortcomings — it lacks a headphone jack, and the borders around its display are relatively large, which makes it look old-fashioned.
Read the HTC U11 review »
13. LG G6
The G6 is LG's best smartphone. With it, LG is finally offering a phone with a premium design and water-resistance — features that put the G6 in the same league as Samsung's and Apple's flagship devices.
The G6 has a good dual-lens camera and a screen that's taller than normal, which makes it great for viewing and using apps.
But the G6 has one notable downside: an older processor. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chip was superseded by the Snapdragon 835 two months after the G6 launched. Unlike the G6, Samsung's Galaxy S8, one of its chief rivals, has the newer chip.
While the Snapdragon 821 is still a great processor, its likely to become obsolete sooner than its successor, and the G6 is likely to start seeming slower sooner than the Galaxy S8.
Read the LG G6 review »
Wait for it: LG is expected to release the successor to the G6 at MWC. Check out the rumors at the end of this list.
12. Essential Phone
The Essential Phone is a gorgeous device. It has a nearly edge-to-edge display and a case made of ultrapremium materials — ceramic on the back and titanium on the sides. It also runs a nearly stock version of Android, which I prefer over the heavily modified versions that Samsung and LG phones tend to use.
Overall, the Phone is a great first effort from Essential. It's speedy and takes great photos. It also has two magnetic pins on its back that serve as a connection point for peripherals, including a 360-degree camera and a wireless-charging dock.
Essential recently dropped the price of the Phone to $500 from $700. That's a great deal for a great phone.
Read the Essential Phone review »
11. Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus
The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus are among the best-looking smartphones out right now. They're more attractive than Apple's iPhone 8 and sleeker than Samsung's Note 8.
With the S8 and S8 Plus, Samsung refined the curved glass design it used with the S7. Meanwhile, the ultranarrow borders around the devices' screens make them the new standard for premium smartphone design.
In addition to their good looks, the Galaxy S8 phones are full of great features. They're water-resistant. They have taller-than-average screens, allowing you to see more of your apps or webpages. They support both fast and wireless charging and face and iris recognition.
They have one of the best cameras, and, unlike Apple Pay or Android Pay, Samsung's Pay wireless-payments service works on pretty much every credit-card reader. And they each have a home button, so it's easier to adjust to using them than phones that have ditched the feature.
With all those attributes, you're likely wondering why the S8 phones didn't make the top of this list. Here's why: I'm not a fan of TouchWiz, Samsung's software interface that runs on top of Android. I instead prefer the clean look and features of stock Android.
But it's more than a simple personal preference. Modifications like TouchWiz almost always prevent the phones running them from installing the latest Android updates when they're released. And that's the case here.
The S8 phones rely on TouchWiz for face- and iris-recognition capabilities. But those features are poor compensation for the inability to install timely Android updates.
Galaxy S8 price: $635
Galaxy S8 Plus price: $705
Read the Samsung Galaxy S8 review »
Wait for it: Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S9 at MWC. Check out the rumors at the end of this list.
10. Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are now more than a year old, but for $550 and $670, respectively, they easily beat the Galaxy S8 phones.
Apple phones generally offer better apps and a better owner experience than their Android rivals, and the iPhone 7 is no different. The support you get from Apple if something goes wrong is superior to what you get from Android device makers. And unlike on most Android phones, with iPhones you can always get the latest software updates straight from Apple as soon as it releases them.
The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus offer some compelling features, including water-resistant cases, great cameras that perform well in low light, and a powerful processor. The phones also work well with other Apple products, including the company's wireless AirPods headphones.
The iPhone 7 Plus' dual-lens camera system is its distinguishing feature. It allows you to take pictures with a professional-looking "bokeh" effect, which blurs the background behind your subject. Additionally, the system allows you to zoom in on your subjects; its second camera offers a 2x optical zoom.
Unlike the digital zoom feature found in other cameras, an optical zoom allows you to enlarge an image of your subject without sacrificing picture quality.
iPhone 7 price: $550
iPhone 7 Plus price: $670
Check out the iPhone 7 review »
9. Razer Phone
The Phone is marketed as a "gaming" phone, mostly because of its unique display. The Phone can refresh its screen 120 times a second; most phones, by comparison only refresh their screens 60 times a second. The Phone's faster refresh rate allows it to offer super smooth gameplay.
But the Phone doesn't just use the feature to make games look good. The refresh rate also affects the way it displays apps and its Android interface. It works beautifully; everything you do on the phone is ultrasmooth in a way never seen before on a smartphone. In fact, Razer may have set the standard for how all phone displays should work — not just those on gaming devices.
But there's more to the Phone than just its screen. It's also got an eye-catching industrial design that stands out when compared with the sleek and svelte designs of most other Android phones.
The large borders above and below the Phone's screen may look out of step with the borderless designs of other recent phones. But hiding beneath those borders are the loudest and best speakers we've heard on any smartphone.
Check out the Razer Phone review »
8. Huawei Mate 10 Pro
The Mate 10 Pro is the most enticing one to date that the Chinese company has offered in the US market. It features a nice, if somewhat generic, design; water resistance; a large, 4,000mAh battery; and a dual-lens camera system.
It also runs on a Kirin 970 processor that comes with something called a neural-network processing unit, or NPU. The NPU lets the phone adapt and respond to how you use it. It can adjust the device's power consumption to offer both the best performance and efficiency.
Combined with the Mate 10 Pro's jumbo-sized battery, the NPU allows the device to have insane battery life.
7. Samsung Galaxy Note 8
With its gorgeous design, ultrathin borders around its screen, a beautiful display, fast performance, a dual-lens camera system, and fancy stylus-based features, the Note 8 takes the best attributes of Samsung's Galaxy S and Note smartphone lines and smashes them together into a phone that's hard to beat.
Check out the Galaxy Note 8 review »
6. OnePlus 5T
If you're looking for a huge bargain, the OnePlus 5T is the Android phone to get. It's a fantastic phone that's only made better by its incredible $500 starting price.
It comes with more memory than any other smartphone we've tried, guaranteeing top performance. On top of that, its great camera comes with a portrait mode that competes with those of the iPhone X and Google's Pixel 2. And it has one of my favorite features in an Android phone: It runs a near-stock version of the operating system.
Check out the OnePlus 5T review »
5. Google Pixel 2
The Pixel 2 might not be the most beautiful Android phone you can buy, but it has a secret weapon that vaults it above most of the competition — it runs the latest and purest version of the operating system. Because it's unadulterated, that version looks and runs better than any of the tweaked takes on Android other phone makers include with their devices.
Better yet, because the Pixel 2's Android is unmodified, you'll be able to install the latest updates as soon as Google rolls them out. That's not something you can usually do with other Android phones. But it's important and, hey, who doesn't want to get the latest version of Android as soon as it's available?
But the Pixel 2 has other features that help put it ahead of other Android devices, including an amazing camera, great performance, and outstanding battery life. And unlike its predecessor, the original Pixel, the Pixel 2 is water-resistant. All told, it's like a smarter —if less attractive — Galaxy phone.
Still, there's one way the Pixel 2 doesn't match up to the original Pixel. We rated that device higher than the iPhone 7, which came out at about the same time. But we rate the iPhone 8 higher than the Pixel 2. That's because the iPhone 8 supports wireless charging and ships with a set of headphones, and the Pixel 2 offers neither.
Check out the Pixel 2 review »
4. Google Pixel 2 XL
The Pixel 2 XL has nearly the same components and features that make the Pixel 2 great. But it comes in a bigger package with a larger display and a fresher-looking design. The Pixel 2 XL isn't the best-looking Android phone, but with the narrow borders around its screen, it looks sleeker and more refined than its smaller sibling or its predecessors from last year.
And the unadulterated Android experience it offers is unbeatable.
Users and reviewers initially reported encountering several problems with the Pixel 2 XL, mostly with its screen. Some reported that the colors it displayed weren't as vibrant as those on other top Android phones. Google later issued an update that made colors appear more vibrant.
Check out the Pixel 2 XL review »
3. Apple iPhone 8
Google's original Pixel phones topped last year's iPhone 7. But now that the new iPhones are here, Apple is back on top.
The iPhone 8 comes with a refined glass-and-metal case, a superb camera, and incredible performance. With it, Apple is finally supporting both wireless and fast charging — features that Android phones have long offered but had been missing from previous iPhones.
What pushes the iPhone 8 ahead of the Android pack is its iOS operating system and the broader Apple ecosystem. You can get the latest updates straight from Apple as soon as they're released, iOS apps are generally better-designed than their Android counterparts, and if something goes wrong with your phone, you can get help at one of the hundreds of Apple Stores.
2. Apple iPhone 8 Plus
The iPhone 8 Plus includes all the best things about the iPhone 8. But it adds to them a bigger, better screen and a dual-lens camera system that features a telephoto lens and the ability to take shots like those you could capture with a professional camera.
1. Apple iPhone X
It's undeniable. The iPhone X is the best smartphone on the market today. It combines Apple's standout operating system and app store with the best-designed phone we've seen.
In terms of features, it also matches those of the best Android phones. It's got an outrageously beautiful OLED display that covers most of its front, and it supports both wireless and fast charging.
The iPhone X will cost you at least $1,000 — but that's the price of near-perfection when it comes to a smartphone.
Check out the iPhone X review »
WAIT FOR IT: Samsung Galaxy S9
At least according to the rumors, the Galaxy S9 sounds like it's going to look and work a lot like its predecessor, the Galaxy S8.
One possible difference could be in the placement of the fingerprint sensor on the new device. We're hoping the sensor on the S9 won't be as awkward and difficult to use as it is on the S8.
Another area that could see changes is in the new phone's camera system. We doubt there will be a major revision. But a few rumors suggest that the Galaxy S9+, the larger version of the device, will come with a dual-lens camera.
We also expect Samsung will use a new chip that will dramatically improve the facial recognition it offered in the S8.
If you're specifically looking for a top-of-the-line Samsung smartphone, it's in your best interest to wait for MWC. The latest rumors suggest the company will debut the phone at the show.
WAIT FOR IT: Moto G6
Motorola announced its Moto G5 at last year's MWC, so we're expecting the Lenovo-owned company to unveil the device's successor at this year's event.
According to the latest rumors, the G6 is expected to get a display with an 2:1 aspect ratio, which is in line with other recent Android devices. Apart from that, little else has been rumored about the phone.
WAIT FOR IT: LG G7
LG announced the G6 at last year's MWC, so we're expecting it to unveil the G7 this year.
According to the rumors, LG's latest flagship phone will sport Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 845 chip. That should allow the G7 to better compete with its rivals on performance than its predecessor.
Apart from that, little else has been rumored about the upcoming phone. Stay tuned.
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1The 20 best smartphones in the world
2Google hid the date of its next developer conference inside an online game
3Apple says that 500 million customers use Siri
4Qualcomm has been fined nearly €1 billion by the EU after paying Apple to puts its chips in the iPhone
5The former 'mighty eagle' of the company behind 'Angry Birds' wants to build a $15 billion tunnel from Finland to Estonia