The Root of Toko: What If the Fear Didn’t Start With You?

I used to believe I just wasn’t “the maternal type”. That something in me was hard-wired wrong — why else would the idea of pregnancy or birth send shockwaves of fear through my body? But what if the real story started long before I was ever old enough to know the...

I Thought I Was Just “Anxious” — Then I Found the Real Root

For most of my adult life, I thought I just had shaky mental health. Constant anxiety, bouts of depression, even a good dose of OCD at times — all of it seemed to come and go without warning, sitting underneath everything I did. But no matter how “together” I looked...

My Tokophobia Story – the birth of all this!

I didn’t know I was living with tokophobia — until my body and mind made it impossible to ignore. If you’d asked me in my thirties whether I was afraid of pregnancy, I’d have told you I was far too busy building my career to think about babies. I wouldn’t have called...

What Is Tokophobia, Really? Beyond “Fear of Birth”

“I didn’t even know tokophobia was a thing… until my whole life started making sense.” For most of my adult life, I thought there was just something wrong with me. Why didn’t I light up around babies? Why did the thought of pregnancy make me feel not just uneasy, but...

Could Your Own Birth Be Shaping Your Fears About Pregnancy and Birth?

If you struggle with the idea of pregnancy or birth—whether that’s full-blown tokophobia or just a deep unease—you’ve probably spent time wondering: Why do I feel this way? Maybe you’ve never had a traumatic experience related to birth.Maybe you haven’t heard any...

We’ve Got Tokophobia All Wrong – And It’s Hurting Women

One of the biggest problems with tokophobia is its name. It’s got the word phobia in it. That confuses people— especially mental health professionals —because we tend to think of phobias as isolated, irrational fears that can be treated with desensitisation or...