tokophobia

Abnormal and persistent fear of childbirth is known as tokophobia.

Primary tokophobia is the fear and deep-seated dread of childbirth which pre-dates pregnancy and can start in adolescence.

Recognition of tokophobia and close liaison with obstetricians or other medical specialists can help to reduce the severity of tokophobia and ensure efficient treatment.

Secondary tokophobia is due to a previous horrendous experience regarding traumatic birth, poor obstetric practice or medical attention, postpartum depression or other such upsetting events, which renders them emotionally unable to have more children.

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.

In 2000, an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (2000, 176: 83-85) described the fear of childbirth or pregnancy as a psychological disorder, when it had previously received little to no attention as such, in addition to introducing the term tokophobia (from the Greek tokos, meaning childbirth and phobos, meaning fear).