Dr. Debra A. Hill, M.D.

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Debra A. Hill, who serves patients in California.

Fluent in both English and Spanish, Dr. Hill is a board-certified psychiatrist who has more than three decades of experience in her field. She serves patients of all ages at her private practice with locations in Laguna Hills and Newport Beach, California.

There, she provides psychiatric evaluations, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, play therapy for children, pharmacogenetic testing, and medications when indicated for adults, adolescents, children, and mothers with infants. 

Simultaneously, she has been serving as a volunteer on the clinical faculty in the adult psychiatry and child and adolescent departments of the UCI Neuropsychiatric Institute since 1990. She served as a Clinical Associate in Adult Psychoanalysis and as a Clinical Associate in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis at the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute from 1991 until 1996.

After earning her medical degree from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico in 1982, Dr. Hill relocated to the United States. She completed her internship in internal medicine at the University of California, Irvine / VA Long Beach Healthcare System, followed by her residency in psychiatry at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center. This was followed by a fellowship in child and  adolescent psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in 1989. 

An active Board Member of the UCI School of Medicine Alumni Association and the South Orange County Dive Club, the doctor is board-certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The ABPN is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting high quality patient care for the public through the initial and continuing certification of psychiatrists and neurologists. 

Noted for her distinguished accomplishments and contributions in the field of psychiatry and psychoanalysis, Dr. Hill wrote the Foreword in a book titled, Stung By “B’s” A Storybook on How to Survive Venomous Behaviors, by Theresa Drinka and Jenni Synnes. She was also listed in the Orange Coast magazine as one of the best doctors in the field of psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and psychoanalysis by The Best Doctors in America in 2001 and 2002. 

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who specializes in mental health, including substance use disorders. They are qualified to assess both the mental and physical aspects of psychological problems.

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