Tokophobia is the fear of getting pregnant. It can often lead a woman to not having children. Often it develops by exposure to frightening experiences such as miscarrying the first child, or being exposed to giving birth, either by a member of the family going into labour at home, or watching it on TV.
Many women who have had difficult births never go on to have more children even though they want to and overriding the trauma using a wide range of techniques and tools can help break the fearful association.
Case Study – How a sex education video caused Tokophobia
Melanie was only 13 when her school played the class a video of animals and humans giving birth. The screaming and blood, so traumatised her she ran out of the class screaming.
She vowed there and then NEVER to have children.
13 years later, she had met a partner and married and her husband wanted children. Everytime any mention of it caused Melanie to run out of the room panicking she wasn’t diagnosed with tokophobia, but she was convinced it was. It was a random talk with a girlfriend who suggested hypnotherapy that brought her to me. It transpired she also had a fear of blood. We spoke about how the phobia took hold and how I could help her break the trauma, but also teach her the self-hypnosis techniques for pregnancy and pain, which meant she had control over possible painful events. I also pointed out that not all pregnancies were as depicted on that video. In some cultures, their perception around pain can be different.
We worked for 6 sessions scrambling the triggers, changing the responces and practising self-hypnosis. 18 months later I received an email stating she was pregnant and all was fine.
Case Study 2 – traumatic birth brought back horrific flashbacks
Sarita’s trauma started when her waters broke whilst out shopping. The baby had come a week early and an ambulance had to be called. Unfotunately the baby didn’t make it and the grief, guilt and blame set in. All the fuss and stress this caused was all taken onboard subconsciously, so when 2 years later she found herself pregnant again she started to get flashbacks. Terrified it was going to repeat itself, a friend suggested she came to see me. We worked on reducing her anxiety initially. Then helping her through the grieving process. We worked on the trauma and after a couple of sessions, she surprised me by announcing that she was setting up a charity for those who had lost a baby.
This new positive focus really helped her through the months on the run up to the birth and thankfully the baby arrived on time in perfect health.