What is the fear of childbirth called
Fear of childbirth (tokophobia) | Tommy's
Tommy's PregnancyHub
Having some anxiety about giving birth is natural. But if you feel so afraid that you don’t want to do it, it’s important to ask for help.
I’m feeling anxious about giving birth. Is this normal?
You may feel a bit anxious about or afraid of giving birth. This is very common. Pregnancy and childbirth are major life events, so don’t be hard on yourself for having these feelings.
You may find it helpful to:
- Tell your midwife how you feel. They may be able to reassure you.
- Talk to someone you trust. This could be your partner, friend or family member.
- Start thinking about how you want to give birth and make a birth plan. This can help you feel more organised and in control.
- Find a local antenatal class. This will give you the opportunity to meet others in a similar situation and find out more about what happens in labour.
- Try hypnobirthing. This may help you relax.
- Try our tips for improving mental wellbeing in pregnancy to reduce stress.
- You may come across people who are willing to share their birth stories before you even ask. It’s OK to ask them to stop if it’s not helpful.
Find out more about positive things to prepare for labour.
Tokophobia
It is rare, but some women are so afraid of giving birth that they don’t want to go through with it, even if they really want to have the baby. A severe fear of childbirth may also affect their decision on how to give birth to their baby. This is called Tokophobia and it can happen in any pregnancy. Some women have it in early adulthood or even as a teenager.
Women with a severe fear of childbirth often have depression or anxiety too.
It can be difficult for other people to understand how someone can be so frightened about something they see as ‘so natural’. But tokophobia is a mental health condition and women who have it need treatment and support.
What causes tokophobia?
Tokophobia can happen if you have:
- a fear of childbirth in your family
- heard frightening birth stories from people in your family
- or have had an anxiety disorder
- experienced sexual abuse, assault or rape
- had gynaecological problems (problems with the female reproductive organs).
“I always knew I would struggle being pregnant because I have a massive fear of childbirth. It comes from being sexually abused as a child, so things like smear tests are always very traumatic for me.” Julie, mum of one, read her full story.
Some women have a severe fear of childbirth because they have had a traumatic birth experience. In this case, they may have post-traumatic stress disorder. This is a different condition to tokophobia and needs different treatment.
What should I do if I’m afraid of childbirth?
Tell your midwife or doctor about your fears, as early in your pregnancy as possible.
They should refer you to a mental health specialist for pregnant women. Ideally, this should be someone with experience of childbirth fears.
You should be given advice on how to cope with your feelings of fear and any other symptoms you may have. You may also be offered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Your specialist should also discuss your options for giving birth that may help lessen your fears.
If you have a fear of childbirth due to post-traumatic stress disorder you may be offered eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EDMR). This a therapy that uses eye movements to dampen the power of the memories and the emotions linked to them.
Make a wellbeing plan
Our online Wellbeing Plan is a tool that helps you start thinking about how you feel and what support you might need in your pregnancy and after the birth.
You can use it to help you talk to your partner, family, friends or midwife about how you are feeling.
Requesting a planned caesarean section
If you feel like your treatment isn’t working, talk to your midwife or doctor about having a planned caesarean section.
They will discuss the risks and benefits of having a caesarean compared to a vaginal birth.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence states that you should be offered a planned caesarean section if you have had treatment and support but are still too afraid to have a vaginal birth. If an obstetrician is unwilling to perform a caesarean section you should be referred to one who will.
'I wrote a short explanation of my anxiety, its triggers and how people could help me manage it, and asked any new medical staff to read it before dealing with me.' Paula, read her full story.
More information and support
- Anxiety UK
- No Panic
- The National Association for People Abused in Childhood
- Rape Crisis
Review dates
Reviewed: 22 February 2019 | Next review: 22 February 2022
This content is currently being reviewed by our team. Updated information will be coming soon.
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Fear of childbirth | Pregnancy Birth and Baby
Fear of childbirth | Pregnancy Birth and Baby beginning of content4-minute read
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Some females experience fear before giving birth but there are things you can do to help manage this. If you’re worried, it’s important to speak to your midwife or doctor about what to expect.
If you’re feeling anxious and stressed, this is not ideal for you or your baby. Talk to your healthcare professional or use some of the techniques below to prepare for your birth.
Types of fears about childbirth
Fear of the unknown
Fear of childbirth can stem from not knowing what is going to happen.
Sometimes first-time parents may not feel confident that they can give birth. Other times, you may feel concerned about negative stories they have heard.
Some females find that a new pregnancy brings up unresolved emotions about previous experiences. It can help if you talk about these feelings with your doctor and midwife so they can guide you to appropriate support.
It’s a good idea to talk to your doctor and midwife about your birth choices and preferences. When females are informed and involved in decision making they tend to feel more relaxed and in control which can help you better cope with labour.
You might like to think about making a birth plan that documents the type of birth experience you would like. Every labour and birth is different. They can be unpredictable so it’s a good idea for your birth plan to be flexible.
Pain
There are different ways you can relieve pain during labour.
There are natural and medical pain management methods.
Your doctor or midwife can discuss the different options to help you prepare.
You may be worried about a birth injury such as a tear to your perineal area.
Your doctors, midwives and nurses will be there to look after you and support you before during and after your birth.
Interventions during labour
Sometimes your baby will need help to be born. Your doctor or midwife may recommend an intervention such as a caesarean section or an epidural.
Understanding your options can help you feel empowered and in control. You can do this by talking to your healthcare team, going to antenatal classes and reading educational material.
Using your bowels during birth
You’ve probably heard that women can unintentionally poo and wee during childbirth. It’s nothing to worry about — your doctor and midwife have seen it all before. They will discretely clean this up and you may not even realise it has happened.
Think about who you would like at the birth with you and talk to them about your fears.
Not making it to the hospital in time
The first stage of labour may take longer than you expect. There is usually plenty of time to get to hospital.
Call your hospital's maternity unit or delivery suite if you think you are in labour.
A very small percentage of births in Australia occur outside a hospital or birth centre. If you are worried about this or you live in a remote area, it might help you to learn about what to do if your labour comes early.
Ways to manage your fear
If you are feeling worried or anxious about your birth, it will help to prepare mentally and physically. Some strategies that may help you manage your fear of childbirth include:
- becoming well informed and learning about birth
- attending antenatal classes — or birth classes
- practising relaxation techniques
- preparing a birth plan
- practising meditation or yoga
- eating healthily
- exercising
- talking to someone who you trust such as a counsellor, your midwife, doctor or other mums
When it's something more serious
For a very small number of women, fear of childbirth can become overwhelming.
This is called tokophobia. Sometimes the fear is so intense that women may avoid having babies altogether.
Other women may experience antenatal anxiety, depression, or post traumatic stress disorder following a difficult birth. These conditions are serious and need treatment.
Where to get help
If you are feeling fearful and overwhelmed, or your fears are affecting your life, contact:
- your doctor
- PANDA: 1300 726 306
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
You can also call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436 to talk to a maternal child health nurse.
Your local Child and Family Health Centre can help you once you have your baby and refer you to other supports if needed.
Sources:
The Royal Women's Hospital (Preparing for labour), WHO (Intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience), Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Labour and birth), RANZCOG (Pain Relief in Labour and Childbirth)Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content.
Last reviewed: June 2022
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❓ What is tokophobia? - GBUZ SO "Psychiatric Hospital 3"
❓ What is tokophobia?
Author:
Psychiatric Hospital 3
❓ What is tokophobia?
👨⚕Tokophobia is the fear of pregnancy and childbirth. The British Journal of Psychiatry first documented this phobia in 2000.
Fear of childbearing has been described as a psychological disorder that has not received the attention it deserves from specialists and needs to be studied in more depth. Approximately 6 to 7% of women in the world experience tocophobia.
The existence of tokophobia in a woman can lead to a number of behaviors that affect all aspects of her life. Women with this disorder can take all measures to prevent conceiving a child - it happens that they use several different methods of contraception at the same time. In extreme cases, with an exceptionally high level of fear of childbirth, girls tend to even avoid sexual contact.
However, none of the methods of contraception is 100% effective, so sometimes - even if a woman takes all measures to prevent pregnancy, she still comes.
When a woman has such a strong fear of childbirth that she cannot control it, then you need to pay attention to the following symptoms:
🔹 fear of pain;
🔹 fear of not being able to give birth to a child;
🔹 mental health problems;
🔹 nightmares;
🔹 efforts to prevent natural birth (some women try to protect themselves from pregnancy at all costs, others require caesarean section)
🔹 feeling weak.
The fears are so strong that they cause problems with daily duties and lead to hysteria, panic and even depression.
❓ What causes Tocophobia?
👨⚕ Tokophobia manifests itself differently for everyone. Here it must be taken into account that in modern society, hedonistic views of life prevail, where the predominant purpose of existence is to enjoy. While the birth of children implies a great responsibility for newly-made parents. It is also necessary to mention social factors here - as a rule, the birth of a child, the departure of a woman on maternity leave for a long time “pulls out” a woman from her usual way of life. Given the differences and characteristics of the female body, we can talk about two types of the disease:
🔵 Primary tokophobia - may occur in women who give birth for the first time, and in such cases, fear arises:
🔸 if the girl was a victim of physical violence;
🔸 if one of her relatives died during childbirth;
🔸 if a woman has had a miscarriage or abortion;
This type of illness often occurs before the planning of a child and leads to a delay in the decision to motherhood or complete refusal.
According to psychiatrists, its development is often neurotic.
🔵 Secondary tokophobia is the most common consequence of a traumatic experience. Secondary fear of childbirth appears in women who are already mothers. It is based on events the woman has experienced in the past, such as a difficult birth (for example, associated with severe pain). The risk of secondary tocophobia is greatly increased if the woman has had postpartum depression.
❓ How to deal with tokophobia?
👨⚕ Therapeutic interactions in women with tocophobia include two main methods: psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. The former plays a major role as it focuses on identifying the source of the problem and then helping the woman deal with it. Pharmacological treatment of tocophobia is more likely to be realized only when the woman coexists with other mental health problems such as depression.
The care of a woman with tocophobia should include not only a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, but also an obstetrician. The second specialist will be able to confront the patient's tormenting fears (for example, explain whether complications may actually threaten her). In addition, an obstetrician who knows about the fear of childbirth will be able to pay special attention to a woman.
At present, the treatment of this disease is based mainly on psychological help, conversation and support of a woman not only from specialists, but also from her immediate environment.
Therefore, a future mother who is afraid of childbirth should be under special care not only of a gynecologist and midwife, but also of a psychiatrist and / or psychotherapist. Psychotherapy (hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc.) and support from close relatives, as well as women with similar experience, can help her.
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What is tokophobia and how to live with it?
Tokophobia refers to the so-called isolated phobias (when the fear is limited to strictly defined objects or phenomena). In 2000, in the British Journal of Psychiatry, fear of childbearing was described as a psychological disorder that does not receive due attention from specialists and should be studied in more depth.
Here's what they've learned so far.
Being the fear of childbirth (the fear itself is tied to the fear of pain, trauma and, less often, changes in life following childbirth), tokophobia is often accompanied by an aversion to pregnancy, an unwillingness to become an "incubator" for a "stranger".
Tokophobia can be primary or secondary. Primary develops in women who have never given birth in their lives. It is formed as a result of receiving a serious psychological and / or physical injury (including a sexual one), the impression of a childbirth seen once, a story about a difficult childbirth, watching a program or a film where childbirth is shown as a painful and terrible process.
Secondary, as you might guess, occurs in those women who have gone through childbirth and remember them as the most hellish and terrible event in life.
There is no exact information on how widespread tokophobia is yet: some studies say that we are talking about 2.5-14 percent of women who experience fear of childbirth, others claim that these figures are more impressive - up to 22 percent. These data suggest that the studies involved women experiencing attacks of tocophobia of varying intensity.
It is impossible to say who exactly can become a victim of tokophobia. It is known, however, that not only women who have experienced sexual violence are at risk, but also those who suffer from anxiety disorders or depression. During these states, tocophobia can, as they say, flourish.
Often, women suffering from tocophobia refuse the idea of having children and say that if they suddenly become pregnant, they will definitely have an abortion. Sometimes such women do not dare to become pregnant, even if they feel the desire to have children.
However, tokophobia is not always an obstacle to pregnancy - many "possessors" of phobias still become pregnant. In some cases, during pregnancy, tocophobia worsens - it is unpleasant for a woman to feel the movements of the fetus, she does not like her growing belly, she is anxious, sleeps poorly, and falls into prenatal depression.
Tokophobes prefer to give birth with those doctors who practice selective caesarean section or are ready to consider the fear of childbirth as a direct indication for operative delivery. If this is not possible, they opt for labor pain relief (which in some cases of tocophobia increases the risk of using a vacuum extractor to remove the baby from the womb). In general, childbirth with tocophobia becomes a test for both the woman and the child.
Why do women with tocophobia decide to give birth? Largely because their disorder has not been diagnosed, they are embarrassed to talk about their fears out loud or consider them a normal reaction that everyone goes through.
