Conditions Treated at Chris Collins Therapy.

Conditions Treated at Chris Collins Therapy

If you’re struggling with your mental health, navigating a challenging relationship, or feeling stuck in unhealthy patterns, know that you’re not alone. Many people reach out for therapy when life feels too overwhelming, and they often find that they’re able to make lasting, meaningful change.

Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, trauma, addiction, or relationship issues, therapy provides a safe space to understand what’s going on and take steps toward self-improvement and growth. Together, we can work through a range of issues.

Some of the conditions I treat include:

Substance Use/Addiction

Substance use becomes a serious concern when it starts getting in the way of everyday life, health, or relationships. What begins as experimentation or a way to unwind at the end of the day can quickly spiral into a substance use disorder (SUD) or addiction.

SUD often shows up as cravings, secrecy, mood swings, and a growing need to use more just to feel normal. Whether it’s alcohol, prescription medication, or illicit drugs, addiction tends to impact every part of a person’s life over time.

In therapy, the goal is to help clients understand what’s driving their drug or alcohol use and build healthier coping tools. This might include identifying triggers, learning how to manage stress or emotions without using, and creating a solid support system. Treatment is tailored to each person’s needs and may also include relapse prevention strategies and emotional healing.

Sex & Love Addiction

Sex and love addiction involves compulsive behaviors around intimacy, relationships, or sex that are difficult to control, even when they’re causing pain or chaos in a person’s life or the lives of others. People with this struggle may chase emotional highs, obsess over romantic connections, or use sex to numb uncomfortable feelings. Sex and love addiction often leads to secrecy, shame, and repeated relationship difficulties.

Therapy focuses on understanding the emotional patterns behind these behaviors. This includes working through attachment issues, setting healthy boundaries, and learning how to build deeper, more secure connections with loved ones. Treatment is also about helping clients feel more in control of themselves and less driven by urges or emotional distress.

Pornography Addiction

Pornography addiction is when someone feels unable to stop watching porn, even if it’s hurting their mental health, relationships, or daily life. Over time, it can become a coping tool for dealing with stress, loneliness, or low self-esteem. Over time, porn addiction may lead to isolation, decreased interest in real-life intimacy, and a constant cycle of guilt and use.

Porn addiction therapy can help clients break the cycle by exploring what’s fueling the behavior in the first place. It also focuses on developing healthier ways to manage emotional discomfort, learning how to handle urges, and rebuilding trust in relationships.

Codependency

Codependency happens when someone’s sense of self becomes tied to taking care of others, often at the expense of their own well-being. Codependency is common in relationships where one person is struggling with addiction or a serious mental health condition.

For people struggling with codependency, it’s common to feel responsible for other people’s emotions or decisions, and to struggle with saying no. This pattern often develops in childhood and can lead to burnout, resentment, and low self-worth.

Therapy for codependency helps clients rediscover their own needs and learn how to meet them in healthy ways. Treatment often focuses on boundary setting, increasing self-esteem, and working through patterns that keep them stuck in one-sided or emotionally draining relationships.

PTSD and CPTSD

Trauma can have devastating and long-term effects on your mental and emotional health. PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) usually develops after a single traumatic event, while C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) stems from ongoing or repeated trauma, often in childhood or relationships. Symptoms can include flashbacks, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, nightmares, and difficulty trusting others.

Using a trauma-informed approach, therapy for trauma and PTSD helps clients feel safe, grounded, and in control again. Therapy may include trauma-focused approaches like EMDR, somatic techniques, or talk therapy tailored to the client’s pace. The goal is to process what happened without reliving it, and to move forward with a stronger sense of self.

Betrayal Trauma

Betrayal trauma occurs when someone you deeply trust, such as a spouse, partner, or close family member, breaks the trust in a painful way. This may be through infidelity, secrecy, emotional abuse, or dishonesty. Regardless, the emotional impact can be overwhelming and often includes shock, confusion, anxiety, and deep grief.

Betrayal trauma therapy helps people work through the pain and confusion they experience after a loved one betrays their trust. Treatment focuses on restoring a sense of emotional safety, rebuilding trust, and learning how to set clear, healthy boundaries.

Trauma

Trauma is the result of the nervous system getting overwhelmed by something scary, painful (emotional or physical pain), or distressing. It can be a single event or continued trauma, but either way, it can cause years of stress, anxiety, and social-emotional issues. Trauma can leave people feeling stuck, unsafe, or disconnected from themselves.

Trauma therapy involves processing the traumatic experience at a gentle pace, calming the nervous system, and learning new ways to manage emotional triggers. Over time, clients often feel more present, more in control, and more at peace.

Anxiety

Anxiety refers to feeling constant worry, nervousness, and physical symptoms like racing thoughts, muscle tension, or trouble sleeping. It can be generalized or focused on specific situations like social settings, work, or health. While some amount of anxiety is normal, it becomes a problem when it interferes with daily life.

Therapy for anxiety includes calming techniques, mindset shifts, and tools to reduce worry in real time. Clients also learn how to respond to stress in healthier, more balanced ways.

Depression

Depression is characterized by a deep, lasting sense of emptiness, hopelessness, or numbness. It can drain a person’s energy, motivation, and interest in things they once enjoyed. People with depression may also have changes in sleep, appetite, and self-worth, and find it hard to imagine things getting better.

Treating depression focuses on identifying the underlying causes of depression, rebuilding self-worth, and creating small, manageable steps toward healing. It also includes strategies to break negative thought cycles and reconnect with a sense of purpose.

Grief & Loss

Grief is the emotional response to losing someone or something important, whether it’s a person, a relationship, or a life chapter. It can bring intense waves of sadness, anger, guilt, and even moments of numbness or confusion.

Grief and loss therapy can help clients make sense of complex emotions, process the loss they’ve experienced, and find ways to carry their loved one’s memory forward while still living fully.

Schedule an Appointment Today

As an EMDR-certified therapist and a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist in Boca Raton, I’m here to walk alongside you with experience, empathy, and care. From weekly sessions to intensive therapy, each service is meant to help you move through life with a healthier mindset, better coping skills, and a more optimistic outlook on life.

I work with individuals and couples who are facing a range of issues, from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to substance use disorder. I provide both in-person and virtual therapy options so that time or transportation never has to be a barrier to getting the support you need. Whenever you feel ready, reach out to schedule your first session or to ask questions about which service may be the best fit for you.