Tokophobia

Tokophobia is a severe fear of pregnancy or childbirth that causes significant distress and may lead to avoiding pregnancy or giving birth.

Connect

Specific phobia: An anxiety disorder marked by persistent, excessive fear of a particular object or situation. Tokophobia is often discussed as a pregnancy- or childbirth-focused phobia.
Classical conditioning: Learning in which a previously neutral cue comes to trigger a response after being paired with another stimulus. A frightening birth story or event can make pregnancy-related cues provoke fear.
Cognitive behavioral therapy: A structured psychotherapy that examines links among thoughts, feelings, and behavior and uses strategies to change unhelpful patterns. It can help address catastrophic predictions and avoidance associated with tokophobia.
Primary tokophobia: Severe fear of pregnancy or childbirth arising before a person has experienced childbirth. This presentation may occur without a prior birth experience.
Fear of childbirth: Anxiety or fear associated with labor and giving birth, ranging from common worry to severe distress. This narrower fear can be one focus of tokophobia.
Avoidance coping: A strategy of reducing distress by escaping or avoiding situations, thoughts, or feelings associated with threat. Avoiding pregnancy-related situations may bring short-term relief while leaving fear untested.
Exposure therapy: A psychological treatment that gradually and safely approaches feared cues to reduce avoidance and fear. Carefully planned exposure may target pregnancy- or childbirth-related fears when appropriate.
Secondary tokophobia: Severe fear of pregnancy or childbirth developing after a previous pregnancy or birth experience. A difficult or traumatic earlier birth may precede this form.
Perinatal mental health: Mental health during pregnancy and the period following birth. Tokophobia may affect decisions and wellbeing across the perinatal period.
Catastrophizing: A thinking pattern that magnifies the likelihood or impact of the worst possible outcome. Anticipating catastrophic complications can intensify fear of pregnancy or childbirth.