Frisco is a community defined by high achievement and fast growth—nationally ranked schools, competitive athletics, major corporate headquarters, demanding careers, and family life that often feels like a second full-time job. That environment produces some of the best opportunities in the country for kids and families, and it also produces a lot of anxiety. We see it across our patient population: parents stretched thin, kids carrying performance pressure their parents never had at the same age, corporate professionals running hot for years, and the broader chronic-stress profile of a place where standards are high and pace is fast. All of it is real, and all of it is treatable.
Our location at 3800 Gaylord Parkway, Suite 1100 sits just off the Dallas North Tollway near The Star and Stonebriar Centre. Patients coming from Plano, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, Celina, The Colony, and Little Elm can typically reach us in 20 minutes or less. We’re open Monday through Friday from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM and Saturday from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, with same-week appointments available.
Anxiety is the body’s natural alarm system—useful for getting out of the way of a moving car or focusing on a deadline. But when that alarm starts firing without a real threat, or won’t turn off after the threat has passed, anxiety stops being a normal response and starts being a clinical condition. Anxiety disorders affect the brain’s threat-detection systems, the hormonal stress response, and the way the body and mind process uncertainty. They’re not character flaws and they’re not the result of not trying hard enough. They are treatable medical conditions, and most people who get specialty care see meaningful improvement.
There’s an important distinction between everyday anxiety—the kind everyone experiences before a presentation or a difficult conversation—and an anxiety disorder. Everyone gets nervous; that’s not what we treat. We treat anxiety that’s persistent, that’s out of proportion to the actual situation, that interferes with sleep, work, relationships, or quality of life, and that doesn’t respond to the usual coping strategies that work for ordinary stress. In high-achievement communities especially, the line between “this is just how I am” and “this is a treatable condition” often goes unrecognized for years.
Anxiety isn’t one condition—it’s a family of related conditions that respond to different combinations of treatment. We treat the full range:
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Persistent, excessive worry about a range of everyday concerns—work, finances, family, kids, health—that’s hard to control and that’s been present most days for at least six months. GAD often comes with physical symptoms: muscle tension, sleep problems, fatigue, irritability, restlessness, difficulty concentrating.
Panic disorder. Sudden, intense episodes of fear that come with physical symptoms—racing heart, shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, nausea, the feeling that something is terribly wrong. Many panic attacks are mistaken for heart attacks, and many patients arrive at our clinic after an ER visit cleared them medically. Panic disorder can also come with agoraphobia, where the fear of having a panic attack in public causes avoidance of certain places or situations.
Social anxiety disorder. Persistent fear of social situations, performance situations, or being judged or evaluated by others—often to the point of avoiding work meetings, school presentations, social gatherings, dating, or making phone calls. In high-achievement communities, social anxiety is often masked by competence; high-functioning patients show up at meetings and on stages while exhausted from the internal effort it takes.
Performance and academic anxiety. Anxiety specifically tied to test-taking, athletic competition, presentations, performances, or work evaluations. Often shows up as physical symptoms before the event, racing thoughts during it, and exhaustion afterward. Particularly common in FISD students, college-bound teens, athletes at The Star and surrounding training facilities, and corporate professionals in high-stakes roles.
Specific phobias. Intense, persistent fear of a specific object or situation—flying, driving, heights, needles, certain animals, enclosed spaces—that triggers avoidance and disrupts daily life. Phobias often respond well to focused exposure-based treatment.
Illness anxiety (health anxiety). Persistent worry about having or developing a serious illness, often despite repeated medical reassurance. Illness anxiety is its own clinical condition and is treatable, even when ordinary reassurance hasn’t worked.
Anxiety related to medical conditions or life transitions. Anxiety that develops in response to a serious diagnosis, a major life change, a loss, a divorce, or a period of sustained stress. This is often where treatment can move quickly because the trigger is identifiable and the underlying nervous system was healthy before.
Anxiety presents differently in different people, but the symptoms tend to fall into three areas:
Physical symptoms. Racing heart, rapid breathing or shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, muscle tension (often jaw, neck, shoulders), gastrointestinal symptoms, dizziness, headaches, fatigue, sleep disruption. Many anxiety patients first see a primary care doctor or visit the ER for these physical symptoms before the anxiety diagnosis is made.
Emotional and cognitive symptoms. Persistent worry, racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, irritability, feeling on edge, catastrophic thinking, fear of losing control, intrusive “what if” scenarios that won’t stop.
Behavioral symptoms. Avoiding situations that trigger anxiety, procrastination, seeking constant reassurance, checking behaviors, social withdrawal, sleep changes, increased use of alcohol or substances to cope. In high-functioning patients, anxiety often hides behind overworking, overpreparation, or over-scheduling rather than visible avoidance.
Anxiety frequently shows up alongside other mental health conditions. Depression and anxiety together are extremely common—each amplifies the other and treating only one usually doesn’t work. Anxiety often accompanies OCD, PTSD, ADHD, and substance use disorders. Sleep disorders both cause and are caused by anxiety. Chronic medical conditions—diabetes, thyroid disease, cardiac conditions, autoimmune disorders—often have an anxiety component that deserves its own treatment.
During your first visit, we assess the full picture rather than just the most obvious symptom. Treatment plans that address the actual constellation of what’s going on tend to work better than plans that target one diagnosis in isolation.
Frisco draws families specifically for the schools, the sports, and the opportunities. That’s a real advantage and worth what it costs. But it also creates an environment where anxiety is widespread, normalized, and underdiagnosed—because in a community where everyone is running hard, the signs of clinical anxiety can look like just keeping up.
Anxiety masked by high function. The most common pattern we see is patients who are succeeding at work, school, or parenting while internally exhausted, sleep-deprived, irritable, and increasingly unable to feel any sense of completion or rest. From the outside they look fine. Inside they’re running on fumes. Anxiety isn’t always visible from the outside, and high-functioning anxiety is very real and very treatable.
Comparison and social-media anxiety. In a community where neighbors, classmates, and Instagram feeds are full of accomplishments, the constant background comparison can drive chronic anxiety. This isn’t a personal failing—it’s a predictable response to a high-comparison environment, and it responds to treatment.
Parental anxiety about kids. Parents in Frisco often carry significant anxiety about their kids’ performance, college prospects, social fit, athletic standing, and emotional well-being. Some of this is reasonable parental investment; some of it has crossed into clinical anxiety that affects sleep, relationships, and quality of life. We treat the parental anxiety directly, and we also help parents recognize when their own anxiety is being absorbed by the kids.
“I should be able to handle this.” The hardest barrier to care in this community isn’t logistics or insurance—it’s the belief that high-achieving people should be able to manage stress on their own. They shouldn’t, any more than they should be able to manage diabetes on their own. The patients we see most often tell us, after a few sessions, that they wish they had come in years sooner.
Anxiety in adolescents has been climbing nationally for the last decade, and it’s especially visible in high-achievement school districts like Frisco ISD, Plano ISD, McKinney ISD, Allen ISD, Prosper ISD, and Lewisville ISD. Teen anxiety often looks different than adult anxiety—it can show up as physical complaints (headaches, stomachaches), school avoidance, social withdrawal, irritability, sleep problems, or sudden drops in performance—and in this environment, kids often work hard to hide it.
Test anxiety and academic anxiety. The pressure around grades, class rank, AP courses, and standardized tests is significant in this district. Test anxiety can derail performance even in well-prepared students, and chronic academic anxiety can lead to school avoidance, sleep disruption, and depression. Both respond well to treatment.
Performance anxiety in athletes. Frisco’s athletic culture—youth sports, club programs, FISD athletics, the training facilities at The Star—produces a substantial population of teen athletes whose identities are tightly tied to their sport. Performance anxiety, fear of failure, pre-game nerves that don’t switch off, and the anxiety that follows injury or loss of a position are all common.
College admissions anxiety. For high schoolers and their parents, the college admissions process generates significant anxiety, often starting in middle school. Treatment doesn’t change the admissions process, but it does help kids and families navigate it with less wear.
Social anxiety and comparison. Social media, group chats, and the visible status hierarchies of a competitive community can drive social anxiety in teens. The masking that high-achieving teens do—appearing fine while struggling internally—often delays diagnosis until things become harder to hide.
For younger adolescents and teens, family involvement is typically part of treatment, with parents coached on how to support their teen without inadvertently increasing the pressure that drove the anxiety in the first place.
Beyond the high-achievement context, certain other patterns show up frequently in our Frisco patient population. Naming them isn’t about defining anyone by their stressors—it’s about recognizing that some of what people are carrying is shaped by the realities of life here:
Corporate and professional anxiety. Frisco’s economy is anchored by major corporate employers—Toyota North America, JPMorgan Chase, Frito-Lay, Comerica, Liberty Mutual, FedEx Office, Keurig Dr Pepper, and others. High-stakes careers, frequent travel, demanding performance cycles, and work-life integration challenges all show up in our patient population.
Commute and driving anxiety on North Dallas corridors. The Dallas North Tollway, Sam Rayburn Tollway (SRT/121), US-380, Preston Road, and surrounding corridors carry heavy traffic, and serious accidents are common. Driving anxiety, panic attacks while driving, and chronic commute-related GAD are real and very treatable.
Community vigilance after Allen Outlets. For some patients, the May 2023 Allen Outlets shooting created lasting vigilance around shopping centers and crowded public spaces. For patients with direct trauma exposure, this can be PTSD-related; for others, it shows up as ordinary anxiety about specific places. Either way, treatment can help reduce the avoidance and the background activation.
Anxiety in immigrant and international professional communities. Frisco has substantial Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Hispanic professional communities. Cultural and linguistic considerations matter in anxiety care, and we work to make treatment responsive to the wide range of backgrounds in our patient population.
Healthcare worker anxiety. Nurses, techs, and staff at Texas Health Frisco, Baylor Scott & White Frisco, Children’s Health, Medical City Plano, and the broader North Dallas health systems carry significant anxiety loads. Healthcare worker anxiety often goes unaddressed because of the same “I’m supposed to take care of others” framing that keeps clinicians from seeking care.
Living in North Texas creates conditions that interact with anxiety in ways patients in milder climates don’t experience. We’ve noticed several patterns worth naming:
Spring severe weather and storm anxiety. March through June brings tornadoes, hail, and severe storms across the DFW Metroplex. For patients prone to anxiety, watch boxes and warnings can drive significant symptom spikes—racing thoughts, sleep disruption, hypervigilance, panic. The unpredictability is part of what makes it hard.
Winter weather and Uri anticipatory anxiety. Since the February 2021 winter storm and grid failure, many North Texas patients now experience anxiety during winter weather forecasts that would have been unremarkable before. Even when the forecast doesn’t materialize, the days of checking heaters, pipes, water supplies, and elderly relatives can drive sustained activation.
Summer heat and sleep. North Texas summers are long and hot, and the months of being indoors with the AC running can affect sleep quality and mood. Poor sleep amplifies every anxiety symptom—racing thoughts, irritability, panic susceptibility, intrusive worry.
Year-round outdoor recovery in the better seasons. North Texas’s spring and fall are excellent for outdoor behavioral activation—Frisco’s many parks, the trail systems through Plano and McKinney, the broader Collin County outdoor network. Anxiety recovery often involves rebuilding physical activity and connection to outdoor spaces, and this region supports that work for most of the year.
Our clinic offers a comprehensive range of anxiety treatments designed to work together. There is no single best treatment for anxiety—the right plan depends on the specific anxiety disorder, the severity of symptoms, your previous treatment history, and your own preferences. We talk through the options with you and build a plan that fits.
Medication can be a meaningful part of anxiety treatment, particularly when symptoms are severe enough to interfere with daily life or to make therapy difficult to engage with. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are typically first-line for most anxiety disorders, with strong evidence for GAD, social anxiety, and panic disorder. Common options include sertraline, escitalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, venlafaxine, and duloxetine.
Buspirone is a non-SSRI option specifically approved for GAD that doesn’t carry the dependency risk of benzodiazepines and doesn’t have the sexual or weight side effects that some SSRIs do. It’s often a good option for patients who haven’t tolerated SSRIs well.
Beta-blockers like propranolol can be useful for performance anxiety and specific situations where physical symptoms are the main problem—worth considering for athletes, performers, presenters, and anyone whose anxiety shows up most acutely in specific high-pressure moments.
Our medication management services in Frisco are led by Dr. Alex Chung, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist, alongside our psychiatric nurse practitioners Erica Canterbury, PMHNP, and Zahra Hassanally, PMHNP. Together they oversee careful monitoring of dosage, side effects, and overall effectiveness. We prioritize finding the right medication at the right dose with minimal side effects, which often takes some adjustment. Regular follow-ups ensure changes can be made promptly.
Many anxiety patients come in with questions about benzodiazepines—alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium). Sometimes they’ve been prescribed them by a primary care provider and want to know whether to continue. Sometimes they’ve heard concerning things about dependency and want to know what their alternatives are. Sometimes they’re already taking them daily and want to taper.
Our general philosophy: benzodiazepines can be helpful in specific short-term situations—a few days during an acute crisis, occasional use for a flight or a medical procedure, bridging the gap while an SSRI takes effect—but they’re not great long-term anxiety treatments. They carry real risks of tolerance (needing higher doses to get the same effect), physical dependence, rebound anxiety when missed or stopped, and interactions with alcohol and opioids that can be dangerous. They also don’t actually fix anxiety; they suppress symptoms while the underlying condition continues.
For new anxiety patients, we typically prefer SSRIs, SNRIs, buspirone, CBT, and—for treatment-resistant cases—TMS or ketamine, all of which have stronger long-term evidence. For patients already on benzodiazepines who want to taper, we develop slow, careful plans rather than abrupt stops, because abrupt benzodiazepine withdrawal can be dangerous. The goal is always what works best for you—not a rigid rule.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most well-studied treatments for anxiety, with strong evidence across GAD, social anxiety, panic disorder, and specific phobias. CBT helps patients identify and revise the thought patterns that drive anxiety, build skills for managing physical symptoms, and gradually face situations that have been avoided. For high-achieving adults and teens specifically, CBT can be particularly useful because it gives patients clear tools and a structured framework—both of which fit how this community tends to approach problems.
For panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety, and specific phobias, exposure-based approaches—gradually approaching the feared situation in a structured way—are particularly effective. Exposure isn’t about forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations; it’s about systematic, paced practice that teaches the nervous system that the feared outcome doesn’t happen, or that you can handle it when it does. Done correctly, it’s one of the most reliable ways to actually shrink anxiety over time rather than just managing it.
We provide therapy referrals to trusted local therapists when therapy is the right next step, and we coordinate care so that your medication and therapy work together rather than at cross purposes.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive treatment that uses targeted magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain involved in mood and anxiety regulation. TMS is FDA-approved for depression—including depression with anxious distress—and has shown meaningful benefit for anxiety symptoms, particularly when medication and therapy alone have not been sufficient.
For patients who can’t take SSRIs, who haven’t responded to multiple medications, who want to avoid medication entirely, or who specifically want to avoid benzodiazepines, TMS is an important non-medication option. Sessions are conducted in a comfortable clinical setting, easily accessible from the Dallas North Tollway, the Sam Rayburn Tollway, or Preston Road, typically over 4-6 weeks. The procedure is well-tolerated, requires no sedation or recovery time, and patients can drive themselves home and return to normal activities the same day.
Ketamine IV therapy is a newer, fast-acting option for severe or treatment-resistant anxiety, particularly when significant depression accompanies the anxiety. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which work through serotonin and can take weeks to show effect, ketamine acts on the glutamate system and can produce noticeable symptom relief within hours or days.
Ketamine therapy is delivered under medical supervision in a series of carefully monitored sessions in our Frisco clinic. We integrate it into a broader treatment plan—typically alongside medication management and, when appropriate, therapy—because the window of reduced symptom intensity that ketamine opens can be a powerful time to make other changes that anxiety has been blocking. Ketamine is not appropriate for everyone, and we’ll have a clear conversation about whether it’s the right fit during your evaluation.
Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and the surrounding North Dallas suburbs are tight-knit communities where neighbors know each other through schools, sports, churches, and shared social networks. Concerns about being seen at a mental health clinic are legitimate and common—and they’re often heaviest for the people who feel they should be “handling it” themselves. We take this seriously. Mental health treatment records are protected by HIPAA, our office is designed to be private rather than visible, and our extended hours make it possible to get care without rearranging your week in ways that prompt questions. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for taking care of yourself.
In-person appointments in Frisco provide a valuable opportunity for direct interaction with experienced clinicians. Whether you are coming from Plano, McKinney, Allen, Prosper, or further out in Collin or Denton County, these sessions allow for thorough assessments, real conversations about treatment options, and the kind of steady, present care that virtual visits can’t fully replicate.
For anxiety in particular, being physically present matters. Clinicians can observe the signs of activation—shallow breathing, restlessness, jaw tension—that are easy to miss on video. We also pace sessions so you leave feeling steadier, not more activated.
Our Frisco clinic is led by a board-certified psychiatrist and two psychiatric nurse practitioners, all with training in mood, anxiety, and related disorders:
Dr. Alex Chung, MD — Board-certified Psychiatrist. View profile.
Erica Canterbury, PMHNP — Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. View profile.
Zahra Hassanally, PMHNP — Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. View profile.
Our Frisco team takes a patient-first, evidence-based approach: treatment plans built around your specific symptoms, life, and preferences; transparent conversations about what each option can and can’t do; and a steady pace that respects how you’re actually doing. With same-week appointments, extended hours, and Tricare accepted, we’re committed to delivering specialty anxiety care that fits the way North Dallas families and professionals actually live.
Starting anxiety treatment can feel daunting—especially when reaching out is itself an anxiety-provoking task. Your first visit is designed to be welcoming, thorough, and unhurried. Most first appointments run 60 to 90 minutes—long enough to actually hear your story without rushing through it.
We’ll talk about what’s bringing you in, how symptoms have been affecting your life, your history, and your goals. We’ll discuss treatment options and answer your questions—including the questions you’ve been afraid to ask. You won’t be pushed into anything; we’ll come up with a plan together. For teens and adolescents, parents are typically involved in part of the visit, with appropriate space for the teen to speak privately.
The comprehensive evaluation includes a detailed clinical interview, standardized anxiety assessments, screening for co-occurring conditions (depression, OCD, PTSD, ADHD, substance use, sleep disorders, medical conditions that can cause anxiety symptoms), and—when appropriate and with your permission—input from family members or other healthcare providers. This process helps identify the full picture of what’s going on, which is the only way to build a treatment plan that actually addresses it.
We also explore your history with anxiety, any previous treatments, and the strategies you’ve already been using to cope. That history matters; it tells us what’s been tried, what’s helped, and what to do differently this time.
Following the evaluation, we collaborate with you to create a personalized treatment plan that fits your needs and preferences. The plan outlines recommended treatments, expected timeline, and how we’ll measure progress. Goals in anxiety treatment often start practical—better sleep, less reactivity, being able to do specific things that anxiety has been blocking—and expand from there into the broader work of reclaiming the life you want.
We encourage open communication and ongoing feedback so that treatment stays responsive to your evolving needs. Recovery from anxiety isn’t always linear; we expect that and adjust the plan accordingly.
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