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The name does not even suggest what it is all about and if you ask most women if they have tocophobia they will promptly say no. But isn’t it? The name is unknown, but what causes tocophobia is more common than we think.
Tocophobia is the extreme fear of childbirth or pregnancy and is characterized by a real phobia, or a feeling of despair when imagining yourself in the situation of a pregnant woman. Unlike that natural feeling of insecurity and fear of what lies ahead, this phobia causes real distress in those who live.
What woman does not handle imagining the birth of a child and not feel that ice in the stomach to imagine the pains of labor, the contractions intense and time of the baby ‘s expulsion? What about cesarean section , anesthesia with a “thick” needle or imagining cutting? “Wow, what an agony” How will the pains be, will I be able to endure?
IMPORTANT: Tocophobia is a subject that is little talked about, but deserves extra attention. In many cases pregnant women with the phobia put their own and the baby’s life at risk due to the despair of imagining giving birth.
These are natural questions for any woman, after all, how to be calm in the face of such a delicate moment and knowing from other women’s reports how they suffer how painful and how dangerous it is? How to prepare your psychological to be able to face these moments, overcome fear and carry out the longed-for maternity? But these fears do not fit into tocophobia, since to be characterized you need the extremes of fear, to take away your peace and even disrupt the achievements of your life.
How to Discover Tocophobia?
Many women who say they have no desire to have children can suffer from tocophobia and not even imagine. Since it is a way of the subconscious to block the desire for motherhood due to these uncontrollable fears.
For those who recognize “dread”, they feel a terrifying fear and in most cases feel inferior to other women because they are unable to have the same desire to “give birth” as friends and family are symptoms of tocophobia. Pictures like this can lead a woman to a deep depression and apparently without explanation .
It may seem strange for a woman to have such a great fear of something so natural in female life, such as childbirth, but experts on the subject indicate that much more than we imagine, on average 1 in 6 women have the phobia.
Types of Tocophobia
This excessive fear is classified into two types: primary or secondary tocophobia:
In primary , tocophobia is not the right age to start, it may be in adolescence recurring to traumatic moments linked to a difficult family birth or even because it became aware of an event linked to the birth of a baby. Scenes from movies or even videos on the internet can also shock and cause real panic about the subject.
In secondary school, it occurs in women who are already mature and may be the result of traumatic situations such as spontaneous abortions , illnesses during pregnancy and even a delivery with obstetric violence that completely blocks the woman’s desire to generate and give birth again. These fears and negative thoughts end up generating the feeling of inferiority and inability to take care of children.
Symptoms of Tocophobia
Women with tocophobia have symptoms characteristic of other types of phobia such as:
- Panic attack;
- Sickness;
- Anxiety crisis;
- Nightmares;
- Difficulties in concentration;
- Depression pictures
There is no form of precaution since it is something that happens generated by N reasons and each one of them in its own particularity. But if you feel the symptoms of tocophobia it is essential to seek help and if recognizing the symptoms in someone close to you will also help!
Many women end up canceling the dream of becoming a mother due to fears and trauma. In other cases, they decide not to produce a baby and simply adopt a child and not have to go through the whole process of pregnancy, labor and birth. However, the key is to seek help, overcome the phobia and have a healthy life.
I have Tocophobia and got pregnant, what do I do? (h3)
In the case of women who become pregnant and have tocophobia the problem gets even worse, since panic attacks, depression and all the other symptoms that occur can hinder pregnancy and even affect the baby’s development .
The monitoring of a specialist is essential for the woman to be able to overcome her fears and have a peaceful and healthy pregnancy and not go through postpartum depression as well. The cesarean elective is one of the options for these cases!
All women are able to be good mothers and experience the moment of pregnancy and childbirth, which is a unique and inexplicable moment . Just have a good prenatal care , good specialists supporting you and the love of family members!
The presence and support of the partner makes all the difference in the treatment, it is recommended that you actively participate in the therapeutic process and all psychological counseling.
See Also: Does Normal Childbirth hurt a lot? Unraveling Myths
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.