Fear of childbirth

(Redirected from Parturiphobia)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

WikiDoc Resources for Fear of childbirth

Articles

Most recent articles on Fear of childbirth

Most cited articles on Fear of childbirth

Review articles on Fear of childbirth

Articles on Fear of childbirth in N Eng J Med, Lancet, BMJ

Media

Powerpoint slides on Fear of childbirth

Images of Fear of childbirth

Photos of Fear of childbirth

Podcasts & MP3s on Fear of childbirth

Videos on Fear of childbirth

Evidence Based Medicine

Cochrane Collaboration on Fear of childbirth

Bandolier on Fear of childbirth

TRIP on Fear of childbirth

Clinical Trials

Ongoing Trials on Fear of childbirth at Clinical Trials.gov

Trial results on Fear of childbirth

Clinical Trials on Fear of childbirth at Google

Guidelines / Policies / Govt

US National Guidelines Clearinghouse on Fear of childbirth

NICE Guidance on Fear of childbirth

NHS PRODIGY Guidance

FDA on Fear of childbirth

CDC on Fear of childbirth

Books

Books on Fear of childbirth

News

Fear of childbirth in the news

Be alerted to news on Fear of childbirth

News trends on Fear of childbirth

Commentary

Blogs on Fear of childbirth

Definitions

Definitions of Fear of childbirth

Patient Resources / Community

Patient resources on Fear of childbirth

Discussion groups on Fear of childbirth

Patient Handouts on Fear of childbirth

Directions to Hospitals Treating Fear of childbirth

Risk calculators and risk factors for Fear of childbirth

Healthcare Provider Resources

Symptoms of Fear of childbirth

Causes & Risk Factors for Fear of childbirth

Diagnostic studies for Fear of childbirth

Treatment of Fear of childbirth

Continuing Medical Education (CME)

CME Programs on Fear of childbirth

International

Fear of childbirth en Espanol

Fear of childbirth en Francais

Business

Fear of childbirth in the Marketplace

Patents on Fear of childbirth

Experimental / Informatics

List of terms related to Fear of childbirth

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Background

Tokophobia, or fear of childbirth, is a form of specific phobia. Other terms for the condition include tocophobia and parturiphobia.

Psychological disorder

In 2000, an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (2000, 176: 83-85) described the fear of childbirth as a psychological disorder, when it had previously received little to no attention as such, in addition to introducing the term tokophobia (from the Greek tokos, meaning childbirth and phobos, meaning fear).

Phobia of childbirth, as with any phobia, can manifest through a number of symptoms including nightmares, difficulty in concentrating on work or on family activities, panic attacks and psychosomatic complaints. Often the fear of childbirth motivates a request for an elective caesarean section. Fear of labor pain is strongly associated with the fear of pain in general; a previous complicated childbirth, or inadequate pain relief, may cause the phobia to develop.

Debate currently rages within the obstetric and psychiatric communities regarding the woman's right to choose mode of delivery -- be it the right of a women to request a caesarean section, or emphasis on the methods available to help them attempt to overcome their fear of vaginal childbirth. Preliminary Swedish and Finnish reports demonstrated the results of treatment during pregnancy, when more than half of the women withdrew their request after being able to discuss their anxiety and fear and vaginal deliveries after treatment were successful.[citation needed]

Tokophobia is a distressing psychological disorder which may be overlooked by medical professionals; as well as specific phobia and anxiety disorders, tokophobia may be associated with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Recognition of tokophobia and close liaison with obstetricians or other medical specialists can help to reduce the severity of tokophobia and ensure efficient treatment.

Primary and secondary tokophobia

  • Primary tokophobia is the fear of childbirth which pre-dates pregnancy and can start in adolescence.
  • Secondary tokophobia is due to a previous negative experience regarding traumatic birth, poor obstetric practice or medical attention, postpartum depression or other such upsetting events.

Both forms of tokophobia can be treated with the assistance of a trained medical professional or psychologist.

See also

Template:WikiDoc Sources