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Tokophobia: An unreasoning dread of childbirth: A series of 26 cases
Abstract
Background: Some women dread and avoid childbirth despite desperately wanting a baby. This is called tokophobia. Aims: To classify tokophobia for the first time in the medical literature. Method: Twenty-six women noted to have an unreasoning dread of childbirth were interviewed by the same psychiatrist, who was not the treating doctor. A qualitative analysis of these psychiatric interviews was performed. Results: Phobic avoidance of pregnancy may date from adolescence (primary tokophobia), be secondary to atraumatic delivery (secondary tokophobia) or be a symptom of prenatal depression (tokophobia as a symptom of depression). Pregnant women with tokophobia who were refused their choice of delivery method suffered higher rates of psychological morbidity than those who achieved their desired delivery method. Conclusions: Tokophobia is a specific and harrowing condition that needs acknowledging. Close liaison between the obstetrician and the psychiatrist in order to assess the balance between surgical and psychiatric morbidity is imperative with tokophobia.
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“As a result of birth trauma, some women develop a severe a fear of childbirth [39,40].”
From The birth trauma earthquake: A qualitative investigation of first-time mothers who perceived their birth as traumatic (2026) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Ekblad, 1961, The prognosis after sterilization on social–psychiatric grounds. A follow-up study on 225 women, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 37, 9
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“A distinction is commonly made between fear that predates first pregnancy—primary FOB—and fear that appears following traumatic or distressing childbirth—secondary FOB [18].”
BackgroundMethodIs it Necessary to Evaluate Fear of Childbirth in Pregnant Women? A Scoping Review
Imakawa, C. S. O., Nadai, M. N., Reis, M., Quintana, S. M., & Moises, E. C. D. (2022) · Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia / RBGO Gynecology and Obstetrics · doi:10.1055/s-0042-1751062 · Cited by 29
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hofberg, K., & Brockington, I.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2000-01
- Volume
- 176
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-85
- ISSN
- 0007-1250
- 1472-1465
- Cited by
- 238
- References
- 0
- Language
- en
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