Dr. Angeline Yague De Guzman, MD

Dr Deguzman was our first experience with a psychologist. Neither my husband or I had ever gone to one. But our teenager needed one. She put our teen on two different medications right away. Then, for no apparent reason, she would increase the dosage without explaining why. It was so random, as if she flipped a coin or something before our child was seen. The medications led to more serious complications which required treatment by other medical professionals. They tried to reach her and she would not call back. Records were requested (the proper forms were signed by us and submitted) but nothing was ever sent out ever! I made phone calls to ask why not and lame excuses were given such as "She tried to call but could not get through." Sessions seemed like a waste of time. She would talk in a monotone type of a quiet voice with a thick accent that was often hard to understand. She would really not give much better advice than you'd get from a grandma. My child was never seen on time and… wait times averaged between 30-45 minutes and sometimes up to an hour. Such a long wait is not tolerated very well by a mentally ill teen, let alone by fairly mentally stable people. Once a patient came into the office after we had been waiting over 15 minutes and the receptionist mentioned to them that they were late for their appointment (which was for the time slot before ours) and they were seen before us! We were called in over an hour after our scheduled time! I asked why they were not asked to reschedule or made to wait to be seen after us and the answer was that they lived over 30 minutes away from the office. My response was that so do we! We were required to pay a bunch of money up-front even though we assured them that our insurance would cover the bill. Then it was a big hassle to get our refund from Dr Deguzman's office as our calls were not returned promptly and then when they were returned we were given the run-around. Once the relatives stopped helping in the front office, the service improved and the current receptionist is much better. Unfortunately I think Deguzman is the only pediatric psychiatrist in Santa Maria. But there are ones in Goleta and San Luis Obispo so If I were you, I would drive a bit further and avoid Dr. Deguzman. I don't even think she has records on our child because we have never seen any and even when we asked how we could get copies for ourselves, we were told that she could not release them to us. Almost a year of treatment and nothing to show for it but complications likely caused by her treatment, at least partially!

While in here office, she received two phone calls from family members who were asking drug-related questions. Instead of putting the callers on hold, she took the calls. One of the calls involved where a relative could find a specific medication in their medicine cabinet. The staff are family members and they are unprofessional. One time her teenaged daughter took my vitals and she was chewing gum and barely carried on a conversation. The doctor herself seems like a nice person, but she is slightly inept. She gave me a diagnosis that she pulled out of a hat in order to justify paperwork. It was very strange!Another time, I had been waiting for her to see me for 20 minutes and she allowed a random patient to come in before me. I waited another hour and no one ever came to get me, so I left. The receptionist left the office. Hah! Go figure. Needless to say, I'll be seeing a new doctor. This is really a shame.

I find Dr. De Guzman as a compassionate doctor who is knowledgeable and was able to understand and treat my complicated problems. Her waiting time is a little long, but it's worth the wait! She takes the time to listen to me. Definitely recommend her!

I went to "Dr." DeGuzman since I have been having some difficulties finding the right medication for anxiety and depression. My primary doctor (who is GREAT) thought that seeing a Psychiatrist, we might be able to find the right combination of medications to help me out.Instead, "Dr." DeGuzman didn't listen to ANYTHING I was trying to tell her. She also told me that I would have to have all this blood-work done. I told her that I also have SEVERE phobias involving blood and needles and wondered what I could do to help get through the blood-tests. She proceded to "laugh it off" and tell me it was "all in my head". No sh*t! Then she sat there and told me that looking at my arms, I have "good veins" and that the lab would be able to take my blood easily. This woman is an insensitive ______. DON'T GO TO HER!