What does Tokophobia have to do with Pregnancy and Childbirth?
Tokophobia is at the severe end of anxiety and someone suffering from this can be considered as having an actual pathological fear of pregnancy.
For some women and men, yes you heard right men as well, this can even lead to the avoidance of pregnancy altogether.
Tokophobia is sometimes split into primary or secondary tokophobia. Primary is the morbid fear of childbirth for a woman who has no previous experience of pregnancy. Whereas secondary is the morbid fear of childbirth which could have developed after a traumatic obstetric event in a previous pregnancy.
This fear can become paralysing and terrifying which can become physically and emotionally disabling. A woman suffering from tokophobia can feel a lack of compassion from those around her due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of the condition. This can lead her to feel lonely, isolated, and having a lack of support around pregnancy and childbirth.
It’s important to understand that most pregnant women have fear around childbirth however tokophobia is different. Out of around 20 – 78% of women that have a fear of childbirth, for at least 13% the fear is so great that it makes them postpone or avoid getting pregnant.
If a woman suffering from tokophobia does get pregnant it’s more likely for the mother to choose to have an abortion, to have her baby adopted, or to opt for a caesarean section when it comes to giving birth.
So what can a person suffering from Tokophobia do?
Seek help by:
Learning self-hypnosis
Enroll in a hypnobirthing course either online or one 2 one
Talk to those around you about how you feel
Get help from a medical professional
Join a Tokophobia support group
Meditate
Learn breathing techniques
It is important that if you know someone or if you yourself are suffering from Tokophobia you are not alone and you don’t have to keep it all bottled up. There are different forms of help and support that you can access.
Learning to control and reframe your thinking around pregnancy and childbirth in a positive way can really support you through this condition.
There’s lots of evidence that has been able to demonstrate that hypnotherapy is successful in reducing anxiety levels of pregnant women making childbirth easier.
If you need any support join, don't hesitate to send me a message.
For more information on hypnobirthing go to https://www.hypnobirthings.com/
For more tips on pregnancy, childbirth, and labour follow us on our socials!
