All About Tokophobia, the Fear of Childbirth & How To Overcome it with CBT, Therapy & Counselling in Wolverhampton & West Midlands

What is Tokophobia?

Tokophobia is the Fear of Childbirth and is a relatively common phobia which we are consulted for numerous times per year.

Tokophobia seems to be most commonly associated with ‘horror’ stories about how ‘traumatic’ giving birth is, usually by parents or friends who have had personally difficult birth experiences themselves.

As with most phobias the imagined experience is often much worse than the actual experience.

All phobias, regardless of what the feared object or circumstances are, produce feelings of anxiety and stress for the sufferer, and Tokophobia is no different in this sense.

Whilst the feared object or situation may seem, to other people, to be ‘ridiculous’ or ‘silly’, the person who suffers from Tokophobia knows only too well that the anxious feelings they experience are real enough.

We completely understand this and will treat you and your Tokophobia seriously.

Our minds are more than capable of producing real biological reactions to any given situation and so as long as the Tokophobia sufferer believes that the object or situation they fear represents a threat to them, then they will experience real fear, anxiety and stress.

Tokophobia Symptoms

The symptoms of Tokophobia are very similar to other specific phobias and will often include:

• Extreme anxiety or panic attacks when thinking about pregnancy or childbirth.
• Avoiding sex or intimacy due to the fear of becoming pregnant.
• Fear of hospitals, medical procedures, or doctors related to pregnancy and childbirth.
• Intrusive thoughts or nightmares related to pregnancy or childbirth.
• Avoiding discussions about pregnancy or childbirth.
• Physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, sweating, or trembling when faced with pregnancy-related stimuli.
• Depression, irritability, or other mood changes related to the fear of pregnancy and childbirth.
• Excessive concern with birth control methods or taking multiple precautions to avoid pregnancy.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a previous traumatic childbirth experience.

Tokophobia symptoms tend to be automatic leaving the sufferer feeling like they have little or no control over the way they feel.

This often results in the use of avoidance or safety behaviours in an attempt to prevent exposure to what they consider to be the triggering events.

Unfortunately, safety behaviours tend to produce a paradoxical effect and end up reinforcing the phobia and associated distress rather than making things better.

Tokophobia may be the result of earlier traumatic experiences that can be directly (or indirectly) linked to the object or situational fear, but this is not always the case because phobic responses can also be inherited as learned behaviours from the social context in which they were brought up.

Over time, Tokophobia may have become normalised or accepted as part of a person’s life and where this has been the case, sufferers may not seek help for their problem for many years as they have learnt to live with it.

In just as many cases, however, Tokophobia may become much worse and start to get in the way of normal living. This is particularly true if the safety and avoidance behaviours have grown in frequency and sophistication.

The good news is that the majority of people who suffer from Tokophobia will find a course of psychotherapy highly beneficial.

You can read more about the different types of psychological therapy for the fear of Childbirth below.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Tokophobia

If you’re determined to overcome your Tokophobia then we highly recommend following our Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul which is available as an Online Therapy as well as a self-help course.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic psychotherapy course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify any unhelpful thinking styles or limiting beliefs and then show you how to make changes using methods derived from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

Tranceformental CBT programme is a clinically proven approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Free Initial Consultations for Tokophobia

We offer all prospective clients FREE initial consultations to discuss your Tokophobia problems prior to commencing any therapy programmes.

The consultation and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various psychological therapy options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available online.

At Tranceform Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapy relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so it is important to meet (either face-to-face or online) before deciding to follow a course of psychotherapy.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.