This week Jess and her guest, Sharon chat about what it is like to fear pregnancy – a condition called tokophobia, which it is estimated that over 1 in 10 women AND men have globally! 

As well as explaining what it is, and what it is caused by, they discuss how this can manifest itself in multiple ways including: avoidance of intimacy, sabotaging of relationships, withdrawal from pregnancy conversations and extreme anxiety. 

Sharon helps to explain some of the ways in which you can deal with tokophobia, starting with individual coping mechanisms, but also avenues through which to seek further help. She also outlines some of the ways in which others can be more mindful of those who are struggling with tokophobia.

Here’s a quick summary of some of the topics spoken about!

What is tokophobia?

Sharon Mustard describes what tokophobia of fear of childbirth or pregnancy. This fear is extreme enough to impact the daily lives of those affected, and is not isolated to pregnant women (in fact, more women who are not pregnant have tokophobia, than those who are). Tokophobia is also not limited to women, as can often be assumed — many men also are tokophobic. She details how there are two main types of tokophobia — primary and secondary — taking us through what each of these mean. 

However, such a fear can present itself in multiple ways including intrusive thoughts regarding pregnancy, an unwillingness to be intimate, nightmares, avoidance of the topic, and much more! Sharon and Jess discuss some of the differing ways people experience tokophobia. 

The role of social media in tokophobia: 

With the rise of online blogging and influencing, Sharon highlights some of the dangers this presents in terms of representing experiences of birth. There can unfortunately be a bias towards the negative in the online sphere, so this has exacerbated the issue for many people. It begs the questions as to what is the role of education in schools surrounding the representation of birth — which Jess and Sharon delve into in the episode.  

Diagnosis & treatment of tokophobia: 

Tokophobia is often missed by healthcare professionals, as it can present itself in similar ways to other issues such as anxiety. However, Sharon walks us through some of the more official routes you can go down when seeking help, as well as individual strategies you can employ in your life both if you are personally affected by tokophobia, but also if you are helping someone else who is dealing with this issue. She discusses the work she does at Easibirthing to help those struggling with tokophobia and other similar issues.

Listen here!

Jessica Hobbis