So, on the one hand, the controversial person doesn't have to do anything in order to be controversial. It's the people all around him or her who do the controversial things.

Yet, some people who read this would scream at that last sentence. They would say, "No! No! That controversial person is doing all of these controversial things and that is why we talk about him. That is why we are always busy with him. Because he's doing all those strange, weird, bad, unusual, or controversial things."

It is thus strange and difficult to be at the center of all of this controversy. It is difficult to have everybody think controversial things about you.

Strangely, other people who are not controversial might be able to do the same things or things that are far more difficult, problematic, or far worse. But since they are not controversial people nobody pays any attention.

It thus takes the combination of the people with the wagging tongues and the other person who attracts controversy like a magnet, the controversial person. Together these two elements are required in order to create the controversial person.

There may indeed be great psychological impact on the psychological person but as far as the psychologist or counselor is concerned, there is little to do with that person.

After all, how can the psychologist possibly handle all of the people who surround the controversial person?

A good counselor can tell when things are not going his way because of some signs, some dangerous signs and if he is just aware of these dangers then he can handle things before they get very much out of hand. So it's good to look out for some of these things.

• Making fun of the counselor. Sometimes a client may not be accepting of what the counselor has to say but there is a red line a line that has to be drawn between non-acceptance and making fun. If there is jeering then that's a warning sign to the counselor. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad. Jeering means that the client is aware that the counselor said something important. It may be an opening for the counselor to be able to get through to the client and thereby be able to move in a situation that was stopped up until that point. However, it is a warning sign nonetheless.
• Not open to ideas. When a counselor offers various suggestions and then comes to a point in which the client doesn't care what he has to say and rejects everything in a seemingly automatic way without thinking about whether it's suitable but just for the sake of rejection, then this is a warning sign. Again, this might be an opening for being able to get through to the client and it might be a good thing, but that means that the counselor has to direct it, to turn it into a good thing.
• When the client listens but doesn't carry out suggestions and doesn't offer alternative suggestions. That's a warning sign. After all there's no problem with rejecting as long as the client says that he has a better thing to do and he disagrees with what he considers to be poor advice of the counselor. There's no problem with that. There's nothing wrong with that. However, if he just rejects, rejects, and refuses to offer anything, clams up when he's asked to give different ideas, then again, this is a warning sign to the counselor and it can either sound as a warning sign or as an opening.
• Another warning sign is someone who has other people that he listens to in which he seems to select those people who contradict the counselor.

  Of course there is nothing wrong with either listening to other people or with contradicting the counselor. The person has the right to have his own thoughts, feelings, or ideas, but that's not the point. If the goal is to search out others who contradict the counselor and if the goal is to contradict the counselor rather than cooperating, then there is reason to be concerned or to worry.

In all of these cases there is one common denominator that these are both warning signs and solutions. If they are dealt in the wrong way without noticing the warning signs then the counselor will be able to look back and will be able to say that he was warned that there was a problem.

On the other hand, if the counselor looks at the situation and observes it and then realizes that there is a problem and then takes the necessary steps to use these warning signs as attempts to reach out to the counselor then he can do a great deal with them.

And indeed, very often these warning signs are attempts to reach out to the counselor. The counselor who is skilled and experienced recognizes these attempts and then he is able to take the client, turn around the situation to a positive event and help the client understand the causes for his anger, frustration, and rejection, and begin on the path to a cure.

These warning signs are therefore extremely important since they can go both ways. When a client demonstrates these warning signs that is one way that you can tell a good counselor by how he handles and accepts and uses these warning signs to correct and turn around a bad situation and make the client become cooperative, understand himself better and come to the right path of therapy.