Tokophobia
Fear of childbirth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tokophobia is a significant fear of childbirth.[1] It is a common reason why some women request an elective cesarean section.[3] Factors often include a fear of pain, death, unexpected problems, injury to the baby, sexual problems and a lack of self-belief of the capacity to birth a child.[4] Treatment may occur via counselling.[1]
| Tokophobia | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Tocophobia, maieusiophobia, parturiphobia |
| Treatment | Counselling[1] |
| Frequency | ~14% of pregnant women[2] |
It is a type of specific phobia. In 2000, an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry described the fear of childbirth as a psychological disorder that has received little attention and may be overlooked.[5]
Signs and symptoms
Phobia of childbirth, as with any phobia, can manifest through a number of symptoms including nightmares, difficulty in concentrating on work or family activities, panic attacks and psychosomatic complaints.[6] Often the fear of childbirth motivates a request for an elective caesarean section.[3] Fear of labor pain is strongly associated with the fear of pain in general; a previous complicated childbirth, or inadequate pain relief, may cause the phobia to develop.
Tokophobia is a distressing psychological disorder which may be overlooked by medical professionals; as well as specific phobia and anxiety disorders, tokophobia may be associated with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.[7] Recognition of tokophobia and close liaison with obstetricians or other medical specialists can help to reduce its severity and ensure efficient treatment.[8][9] Perinatal psychologists emphazises the importance to listen, validate, explore, and tailor interventions as well as a multiprofessional engagement and cooperation in treating tokophobia.[10]
Cause
Reasons for tokophobia can be complex, and are associated with a lack of social support, and with stress, depression and anxiety.[3]
Risks
Unaddressed tokophobia may lead to a prolonged labour and complications during childbirth. Tokophobia is also associated with postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[6]
Terminology
The term tokophobia was introduced in the medical literature in 2000.[5] The word is from the Greek tokos, meaning childbirth and phobos, meaning fear.[5]
It is also known as "maieusiophobia" (though this is certainly a variant of "maieusiophobia", from the Greek "maieusis", literally meaning "delivery of a woman in childbirth"[11] but referring generally to midwifery), "parturiphobia" (from Latin parturire, meaning "to be pregnant"), and "lockiophobia".[12]
