Doris D'Hooghe

Bio

Doris D’Hooghe is a psychotraumatologist, attachment specialist, integrative child therapist, and EMDR practitioner with over 45 years of clinical experience in complex developmental trauma and dissociation. She is the founder and clinical director of Trauma Center Belgium and has maintained a private trauma-focused psychotherapy practice since 1990.
Her work is characterized by an innovative, developmentally grounded approach that bridges attachment theory, dissociation, and neurobiology. She introduced Unseen Attachment Trauma as a novel category within attachment trauma, highlighting forms of early relational disruption that remain largely invisible yet profoundly shape development. In parallel, she has contributed to a redefinition of dissociation as an adaptive, developmental process rooted in early relational experience. Her work reflects a strong capacity to think beyond existing frameworks and to develop new clinical concepts and therapeutic modalities for working with complex trauma.
D’Hooghe is the primary developer of the Developmental Model of Dissociation (DMD) and the lead author of an upcoming Routledge book on attachment, trauma, developmental dissociation, and therapeutic interventions.
She has over 20 years of experience as an international trainer, speaker, and clinical supervisor, working with therapists and multidisciplinary teams across diverse settings. She has presented at major international conferences, including ISSTD, ESTD, and IAAN, and is recognized for translating complex theoretical insights into practical, clinically applicable interventions. She is also regularly featured in interviews with newspapers and magazines and appears on radio programs, television shows, and podcasts, helping to broaden knowledge about trauma and dissociation.
Her work focuses particularly on early childhood and prenatal attachment trauma, dissociation, and the restoration of developmental and relational processes.