Not all women are willing to get pregnant due to their fear of childbirth or tokophobia. According to a new report, many women suffer while only little is known about the condition.
6 in 10 Americans Have Tokophobia
According to a survey, six out of 10 American women have tokophobia, which can cause anxiety attacks, sex avoidance, or a lack of emotional connection to the unborn child, DailyMail reported.
The results are released at a time when US women are having fewer children than ever before. Some people develop it due to other phobias, including pedophobia, iatrophobia, and dread of children, doctors, or pain (algophobia).
According to the research, 62% of American women expressed significant levels of anxiety and panic before giving birth. 1,800 American women were surveyed during the early stages of the Covid-19 epidemic by Zaneta Thayer of Dartmouth College. The researchers believe the pandemic may have impacted the findings.
Over one-third of the respondents, who had an average age of 31, had previously gone through high-risk pregnancies, and half had never given birth.
The study does, however, have certain flaws.
The data on pregnancies and postpartum were gathered in the first ten months of the epidemic when the healthcare system was under significant pressure.
The same trend also favored white women with higher incomes. Most respondents (almost 86%) were white, and about half had a median household income of at least $100,000 annually.
More than 86 percent of the women in the study expressed concern that the pandemic would prevent them from having the support person they desired at the hospital during delivery.
Other major worries included the possibility that if the mothers received Covid, their babies would be taken away from them at delivery, they would give their children Covid, and others would treat them harshly.
The use of formula in place of breastfeeding and postpartum depression have also been linked, according to the study, to dread.
The same trend also favored white women with higher incomes. The majority of respondents (almost 86%) were white, and about half had a median household income of at least $100,000 annually.
More than 86 percent of the women in the study expressed concern that the pandemic would prevent them from having the support person they desired at the hospital during delivery.
Other major worries included the possibility that if the mothers received Covid, their babies would be taken away from them at delivery, they would give their children Covid, and others would treat them harshly.
The use of formula in place of breastfeeding and postpartum depression have also been linked, according to the study, to dread.
The researchers discovered that black mothers were nearly twice as likely to have an intense fear of childbirth than white mothers, despite the majority of respondents being high-income white women.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black moms have a nearly threefold increased chance of passing away from problems related to pregnancy compared to white mothers.
The study was published in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
What Is Tokophobia?
Mayo Clinic says tokophobia is the extreme fear of childbirth and pregnancy. The condition has two subgroups.
A traumatic occurrence during pregnancy or labor, such as difficult labor or stillbirth, can cause secondary tokophobia, which affects people who have given birth. Primary tokophobia affects persons who have never been pregnant but are extremely afraid of getting pregnant and delivering a child. The negative feelings can sometimes be linked to past experiences during childhood, per WebMD.
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