Tokophobia is the extreme fear of childbirth. Tokophobia involves the severe and unreasoning dread of birth which can even lead to the disgust of pregnancy. Those who suffer extreme tokophobia can also later develop an obsessive use of contraception, post traumatic stress disorder and can even have mother baby bonding difficulties. In a recent paper published in the journal of reproductive and infant psychology explores the cause and treatment of this unspecified phobia.

One of the lead researchers, Julie Jomeen, Professor of Midwifery and Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Southern Cross University, joined Sean on 2ser Breakfast to discuss.