Tokophobia
Fear of Pregnancy or Childbirth
Pathological Fear of Pregnancy
- Tokophobia can lead to the avoidance of childbirth
- Primary or Secondary phobia
- Primary defines a fear of childbirth in a woman that has not given birth before while secondary phobias occur in women who have experienced a traumatic obstetric event in a previous pregnancy.
- Can also be named Maieusophobia or Parturphobia
- First account described in 1897
- Typically the fear is specifically related to the event of labor, so abortion or caesarean section can become options
- In extreme cases, women can abstain from intercourse in fear of the possibility of pregnancy
- 78% or women report moderate fears of pregnancy while 13% report fear sufficient enough to avoid pregnancy
- Fears more intense in women that have not been pregnant than those that have
Fluoxetine, Clonazepam, anti-anxiety medications, and antidepressants are typically used in conjuncture to treat this phobia
Daily Mail Article
A woman (39) discovered she was pregnant and was overcome with horror about her pregnancy.