This severe fear of birth is called tokophobia – which literally means a phobia of childbirth. And for some women, this also includes a dislike or disgust with pregnancy. 'Tokophobia' affects up to 22% of women.

Types of Tokophobia

Tokophobia can be split into two types – primary and secondary.

Primary tokophobia occurs in women who have not given birth before. For these women, a fear of birth tends to come from traumatic experiences in their past – including sexual abuse. It can also be linked to witnessing a difficult birth or listening to stories or watching programmes which portray birth as embarrassing or dangerous.

Whereas women who suffer from secondary tokophobia, tend to have had a previous traumatic birth experience which has left them with a fear of giving birth again

It is difficult to say how common tokophobia is. Research suggests that between 2.5 percent and 14 percent of women are affected by tokophobia. But some researchers believe this figure could be as high as 22 percent.

These figures vary so much because women with different levels of tokophobia were included in the research.






https://medfort.com.ng/fear-of-birth-tokophobia-affects-up-to-22-of-women/

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