Arizona Blue sky Counseling

10/17/2026

October is OCD Awareness Month

Let's talk about Compulsions! While obsessions are unwanted thoughts, compulsions are behaviors, acts, or mental rituals that a person feels compelled to perform to reduce distress or anxiety caused by the obsessions. Compulsions fall into the following 7 categories or domains, with a few examples of each.

CLEANING/WASHING COMPULSIONS
*Excessive hand washing in an attempt to remove contaminants
*Cleaning household objects that may not be dirty or involving family members in excessively cleaning to ease anxiety.

CHECKING COMPULSIONS
*Checking that you did not harm yourself. This can look like taking pictures of yourself or a specific body part to make sure that you did not self-harm, when there is no intention or desire to hurt yourself.
*Checking the locks on your car door multiple times just to make sure it is locked.
*Driving back to your house multiple times to make sure that you lowered the garage door
*Thinking you hit a person while you are driving and needing to drive past the spot several times just to be sure that you didn't

REPEATING RITUALS
*Rereading or rewriting an email or text several times

COUNTING COMPULSIONS
*Needing to do any action a specific number of times

ORDERING/ARRANGING COMPULSIONS
*Getting upset when anything in your house is in the wrong spot or out of a specific order

HOARDING/SAVING COMPULSIONS
*Saving unnecessary or useless objects, fearing that something bad will happen if you throw them away

MISCELLANEOUS COMPULSIONS
*The uncontrollable urge to confess, sometimes about something that you may not have done.
*Rituals around eating. This can look like only eating with certain utensils, avoiding the "wrong" color plate, or needing to eat food in a certain order.
*Mental rituals including thinking a "good" thought to cancel out a "bad thought" or saying ritualistically saying a certain phrase to ease anxiety
*The need to touch, tap, or rub something

If you need help with your OCD, give us a call! Our OCD and ERP trained therapists are ready to help.

10/16/2026

October is OCD Awareness Month

Let's talk obsessions!

Obsessions are distressing, unwelcome thoughts that repeatedly enter the mind. You may be disgusted by them, they might not make sense, and they may feel separate or incongruent with your personality.

Obsessions fall into 8 different categories or domains. Someone with OCD may experience obsessions in one, a few, or all areas. The following are the domains with a couple of examples:

AGGRESSIVE OBSESSIONS
*Worrying that you might harm yourself or others with no intention to do so. This can look like worrying that if you're in the same room as a knife, you worry that you'll have the overwhelming urge to use it against yourself or a loved one.
*Fear that you will steal things
*Violent or horrific thoughts or images go through your mind

CONTAMINATION OBSESSIONS
*Excessively bothered by sticky substances. You're unable to eat or touch certain things for fear of becoming "contaminated"
*Concern with getting contaminated by animals

SEXUAL OBESSIONS
*Unwanted perverse or forbidden sexual thoughts

HOARDING/SAVING OBSESSIONS
*Struggling to throw away meaningless things, or feeling the urge to collect unnecessary things.

RELIGIOUS OBSESSIONS
*Overly concerned with doing the right thing
*Constantly worrying that God is mad at you

NEED FOR SYMMETRY OR EXACTNESS
*Needing handwriting to be perfect or something will go wrong
*Books or papers need to be in *just* the right position

MISCELLANEOUS OBSESSIONS
*Intense desire to know or remember things
*Fear of saying certain things. This can look like being worried if that if you say a certain word, something bad will happen. It can also look like worrying that you will speak something into existence.

SOMATIC OBSESSIONS
*Worrying that you have an illness like cancer, despite evidence to the contrary
*Worrying that you are pregnant when there is no way that you could be pregnant
*Hyper fixation on a body part

Call us to get connected with an OCD-trained therapist and to learn more about OCD!

10/15/2026

According to studies, OCD can go undiagnosed for 14-17 years and is misdiagnosed in just over 50% of people seeking treatment. That's a lot of people who have no idea they have OCD and may be getting the wrong treatment for their mental health disorder! (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8668120/)

This can happen for many reasons including:

*Therapist lack of education and training in recognizing and treating OCD- Often folks with OCD are misdiagnosed with, and treated for, General Anxiety Disorder. Treatment for GAD reinforces OCD and actually makes it worse.

*Inaccurate stereotypes around OCD- Wanting a clean house does not equal OCD. Having intrusive, unwanted, spiraling thoughts about harming others, contamination, or religious obsessions are all often part of an indvidual's experience with OCD.

*Stigma- Many folks who have OCD keep their obsessions and compulsions to themselves for fear of judgement. OCD latches on to what is most important to an individual and distorts it. Many people with OCD isolate or keep this part of themselves hidden.

Getting the right diagnosis is the first step toward managing, and finding relief from, you OCD.

Call us to get scheduled with one of our OCD-trained therapists!

10/14/2026

October is OCD Awareness Month!

Misconceptions about OCD can be found everywhere! From books to media, to your friend saying "I'm SOOO OCD!" when they like something organized neatly, OCD is largely misunderstood. There are many people who don't realize they have OCD because they are not worried about messes! OCD shows up in many different ways.

The International OCD Foundation has a brief screener (along with many other resources for individuals, parents, and families. https://iocdf.org/screener/

Many of our clinicians have training in treating OCD with evidence-based Exposure Response Prevention (ERP). Give us a call if you are looking for help with your OCD!

10/13/2026

October is OCD Awareness Month!

Did you know that OCD is so much more than just liking things a certain way? OCD can show in so many ways, including constantly asking for reassurance, terrifying intrusive thoughts, frequent checking (Is the stove off? Did I lock my car? Was the bump I hit while driving actually a person?)

The International OCD Foundation has some incredible resources if you or a loved one think you might have OCD.

Traditional talk therapy does not help OCD. In fact, it can make OCD worse! At Arizona Blue Sky, several of our clinicians have specialized training in treating OCD. We would love to help!

09/15/2026

We’re halfway through September, can you believe it?
September is National ***deprevention Month.

Let’s talk about su***de (and no, it isn’t a dirty word).

According to the CDC, su***de is the 3rd leading cause of death in adolescents 15-19 years old and the 10th for people of all ages.

The most recent study for the quantity of people impacted by su***de is in 2024:

“Su***de was responsible for 48,824 deaths in 2024 (in the US).
The number of people who think about or attempt su***de is even higher!

In 2024, an estimated 14.3 million adults seriously thought about su***de, 4.6 million planned a su***de attempt, and 2.2 million attempted su***de. “

What does su***de prevention mean?

Don’t be afraid to talk about it! Su***de is still often met with shame, stigma, and even silence. Check in on your friends, your parents, your siblings, your children, your neighbor, your partner. No one has to face this alone. Help exists.

Crisis can’t wait.

The national su***de and crisis lifeline is 988. You can call or text that number.

Mind 24/7 is another great resource available throughout Phoenix for immediate mental health care.

09/05/2026

FREE counseling services!

08/23/2026

02/10/2023

On Tuesday 2/21, Semicolon Society is partnering with HD South in Gilbert to offer a free discussion on su***de among our youth. Parents, caregivers, and adults who care are encouraged to attend this conversation about warning signs of su***de as well as how to have validating conversations about mental health, respond to crises, and build resiliency in our youth. It is all completely free, just register at www.hdsouth.org