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How to overcome the fear of pregnancy, and how can tocophobia turn out for a woman and a child? What fears are possible during pregnancy.

Lose your true beauty, give birth to a sick child, or not become a good mother for your baby. Any of the pregnancies is accompanied by similar thoughts, in which the mother experiences fear and anxiety.

Fear of pregnancy in psychology is called tokophobia

What is the fear of pregnancy called?

The disease, which is associated with the fear of pregnancy, is called tokophobia in psychology. In this case, we are not talking about the fear that appears immediately before childbirth, but about the fear that occurs even before the conception of the fetus itself. It occurs so strongly that a woman tries by all means to prevent a possible pregnancy. Most of these phenomena are associated with the appearance of postpartum depression, which is called secondary tocophobia. The first name is due to the fact that a woman insists on a caesarean section, but there are no indications for this.

The real reasons for fear

Pregnancy phobia occurs due to:

The feeling of a phobia is a sign of sudden changes that occur in the outside world or in the body, helping to respond to a threat in a timely manner. If the fear of getting pregnant is strong, then it will only interfere with life.
During pregnancy, each body undergoes certain changes, which contributes to the timely appearance of anxiety. This may be overwork or a weakening of the woman's physical condition, which are symptoms of anxiety. As a result, the expectant mother is already prone to anxiety in advance, which leads to pregnancy phobia.
In the process of bearing a fetus, a woman has various interests associated with the emergence and health of a child. In the end, everything else fades into the background. As a result, there may be a feeling of anxiety, in which the expectant mother believes that she is simply not ready to take care of her unborn baby. Commitment for the baby creates high demands on yourself. The desire to become the best mother for your child leads to constant anxiety.
The reason for the fear of getting pregnant can be isolation from the outside world. There are no new impressions, because the expectant mother spends whole days at home. The appearance of something new after the birth of a child can also cause inevitable anxiety. The fear of pregnancy lies in the constant experience and comprehension of what may happen in the near future.
Fear of all kinds of pain. The main thing in such a situation is to tune in a positive way and be able to calm yourself in time. Especially in our time, there are drugs that can reduce pain, but this may adversely affect your baby.

Fear of pain is quite natural before childbirth.

How to overcome anxiety

In itself, the phobia of getting pregnant is a fear that is projected into the future. It seems that everything is under control, but it is not. A person is constantly in the expectation that something bad can happen to him or his fetus. The feeling is so strong that a person is sure that bad things must happen.

Anxiety symptoms are severe discomfort, increased heart rate, increased sweating, weakness, and frequent dizziness. Each of these conditions needs treatment.

How to overcome the fear of pregnancy

Fear of pregnancy is quite normal and inherent in every future parent. The main thing is not to panic and approach the solution of the problem as correctly as possible, eventually overcoming all your fears.

The first step is to do a survey. With a planned pregnancy, there is simply no reason for concern. However, it is possible to make an examination for the generation of various difficulties in the unborn child. This will help prevent possible problems in advance. All parents of the future baby need to be re-examined.

Spontaneous pregnancy or pregnancy after 35 years requires closer medical supervision. The first few weeks are especially dangerous when it comes to smoking, various infections or stressful conditions in a pregnant woman. This also applies to the future father of the child. It is necessary as early as possible to be examined by doctors for the appearance of all kinds of problems in the unborn child and try to prevent them in advance with the help of various antibiotics.

A modern examination can easily recognize any complications at any stage of pregnancy, whether it is 1 or 16 weeks. Without re-examination, there is a certain probability of getting minor complications.

After that, you need to enroll in courses that prepare for childbirth. They help to overcome the fear of a future pregnancy and form a readiness for an early birth.

When resorting to the choice of certain courses, you need to remember that the classes consist of the following main components:

Psychoprophylactic education. It can be as individual conversations or lectures aimed at eliminating all sorts of adverse emotions that are associated with future childbirth. Their main goal is to form a conscious attitude towards pregnancy, to teach to be aware of childbirth as a physiological process and to form self-confidence.
Teaching the birth process. Courses are conducted by gynecologists so that the pregnant woman is well aware of the future process of childbirth.
Collective exercises using gymnastics. They focus on training breathing and muscles that will be actively involved in the process of childbirth and help get rid of complications.
Introduction to the physiology of newborns. They help to relieve a pregnant woman of fears and worries about her health, and special classes will help to teach how to care for a child.

However, it is simply impossible to overcome fear entirely, especially during childbirth. A person is arranged in such a way that the feeling of fear cannot leave him, no matter how he persuades himself.

To get rid of fears, a woman should study the physiology of a newborn

Help of a psychotherapist

If your fears cannot be overcome with the help of special courses or other excuses, a trip to a psychotherapist can come to the rescue. Usually, visits to the doctor occur in cases where a woman has long developed postpartum depression, i.e., secondary tocophobia.

The best option for overcoming anxiety is cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. Its essence lies in the fact that human thinking is the possibility of understanding oneself and the world around.

This determines the behavior of a person, his difficulties and feelings. By reconstructing your inappropriate concepts, you can begin to contemplate the world with different eyes, and also be able to adapt to any circumstances.

There is no such thing as having a pregnancy and further motherhood is simple and easy. However, having understood the situation, it is possible to endure and give birth to a strong baby without harm to health. Think about medical care in advance, solve all financial and housing difficulties - then subsequent pregnancy and motherhood will not become a problem for anyone. And also you need to have all the necessary conditions for the future development of the baby.

Having a baby is a responsible step that every mother should be ready for.

The article discusses the causes and mechanism of development of fears during pregnancy, their main varieties. Ways to overcome anxiety.

The content of the article:

Fears in pregnant women are the expectation of life-threatening or conditionally dangerous phenomena, sensations in relation to the child (fetus) or expectant mother, accompanied by a high level of anxiety and psycho-emotional instability, due to hormonal changes in the woman's body. Let's find out what fears pregnant women have and how to deal with them.

The mechanism of development of fears in a pregnant woman

Fears in pregnant women are of a different nature, some of them are completely harmless to the mental and physical health of the expectant mother and her baby, others pose a significant threat to the development and life of the fetus, entail serious personality disorders up to phobias and depression.

Nature has laid down the special role of a woman - motherhood, which is the basis of procreation. Therefore, the expectant mother is worried about and without during pregnancy.

The genetic feature of a person is caring for offspring, like all mammals, a number of fears in a pregnant woman are associated with this feature:

The health of the baby in the womb;
The resources of your body for the implementation of the role of the mother (the ability to endure and give birth to a baby);
Heredity (genetic diseases, predispositions);
The ability of the family to raise and provide the child with everything necessary.

These fears are nothing more than a product of the subconscious, and in moments of mental instability caused by hormonal changes during pregnancy, they make themselves felt in the most unpredictable way. The general level of anxiety of the pregnant woman increases, there may be sleep disturbances, appetite is lost, up to the refusal of food. In this case, the concept of fear is a set of uncertain disturbing events that surround a woman, including changes in herself.

Anxiety during childbearing is quite common, but you need to be careful to notice the negative impact of fears on the life of a pregnant woman in time. Often, hyperanxiety is a factor in high blood pressure, unexpected bleeding, and even in the most severe cases, the cause of an abortion or miscarriage.

The mechanism of development of fears in a pregnant woman schematically looks like this:

The appearance of an unusual and previously unknown state, sensation, thoughts. For example, pulling pain in the lower abdomen during pregnancy speaks of various factors in its occurrence. When a woman is not able to independently determine this cause, there is a fear of the unknown.
Reinforcement of the cognitive component with knowledge of similar phenomena. The pregnant woman recalls what her friends, relatives and other women who were involved in motherhood told her. The game of consciousness begins on the topic “What do I know about this?”
Illogical conclusion. Usually, the expectant mother ties her feelings about motherhood to her knowledge, often colored negatively emotionally.
The development of anxiety and fear.

For a constructive fight against fears in a pregnant woman in the early stages and before childbirth, it is necessary to change the constituent elements at the second and third levels in the mechanism of fear formation, which will lead to the elimination of anxiety and a successful fight against the obsessive anxiety of pregnant women.

Important! If you notice a loss of appetite or sleep, feeling unwell against the background of increased anxiety and fear for the baby, contact your doctor immediately so that he makes appropriate appointments for you, maybe even send you for a consultation with a psychologist. Being afraid for any reason during pregnancy is the norm, the main thing is to keep your anxiety level under control so as not to harm yourself and your baby! Peace, only peace!

The main causes of fear during pregnancy

Fears are a manifestation of the individual's self-preservation instinct, which is present at an unconscious level in the subconscious. Most often, the causes of fears do not lie on the surface, but are hidden in the depths of the human soul. Therefore, only a specialist in the field of psychology can determine the true essence of their occurrence using a number of methods: a projective technique (drawing fear), verbal training (pronunciation of fear), psychoanalysis (finding out the root cause of fear) or psychotherapy (art therapy, gestalt therapy).

Like any mental phenomenon, fears should have their own causes:

The unknown and the unknown is scary. Anxiety that accompanies a person at different stages of his life helps to activate the body's defenses and thus avoid danger. Constant fear helps a pregnant woman to notice changes in her body in time, which may signal a threat to the fetus. But sometimes it happens that this interferes with normal life, so you should consult with others and your doctor so as not to get bogged down in these phobias.
Changing the familiar and the ordinary. Naturally, with the birth of a child, a woman's life becomes different - work is replaced by home, any activities and hobbies are replaced by caring for the baby, which takes all her free time. A change in the usual way of life also scares the expectant mother.
Overwork, physical exhaustion. Pregnancy is hard work for the body, which uses all its resources.
New degree of responsibility. Against the background of constant overwork and exhaustion, there is a feeling of anxiety due to burdened duties and affairs. Mom is afraid that she will not be able to cope with her new role and responsibility for the life and health of a little person.
Negative experiences of others. Fear is also formed on the basis of stories that haunt a pregnant woman in everyday life: stories of mothers, grandmothers, girlfriends about motherhood as something overwhelming and terrible.

Signs of anxiety in a pregnant woman

Any mental state has its own external and internal symptoms that characterize it as a process in the dynamics of development. External signs of the presence of fears in a pregnant woman before childbirth and in the early stages include:

Paleness of the skin;
High blood pressure, rapid heartbeat;
Excessive absent-mindedness and inability to focus on a specific activity;
Constant talk about a disturbing event (communicative factor);
Tremor of the limbs;
A significant increase in the pupil of the eye;
Muscle spasms that accompany thoughts of fear;
Changing the sound of the voice (timbre);
dry mouth;
Nausea, vomiting.

External manifestations can be noticeable to any person who observes a pregnant woman, but only their totality and a detailed history of data can indicate the presence of fear.

Internal signs are based on the analysis of neural connections and structural features of the central nervous system.

Types of anxiety during pregnancy

There are a lot of varieties of phobias, here are some of the most relevant fears for pregnant women:

Fear of death. The complexity and responsibility in bearing and giving birth to a child gives rise to thoughts that a woman is losing health and vitality, which may not be enough during childbirth. As a result, there is a fear of death. It accompanies a person at all stages of his life and is a guarantee of its preservation, that is, it is quite natural to be afraid of death. But, mixed with a cocktail of hormones that activate the resources of the body and affect the brain and central nervous system, as well as the psyche of the individual, a “nuclear explosion” is obtained, which an emotionally unstable woman is unable to cope with.
Fear for the life and health of loved ones. The child brings adjustments to the usual life of people, so pregnant women are often afraid that the appearance of a baby may negatively affect loved ones, with whom they will not be able to communicate and see each other, as before.
Fear of the future. The birth of a child is a new stage in life, which entails changes, and what was planned may not come true or may not come true.
Fear for the health and development of the child (fetus). This is the fear of an ectopic or missed pregnancy, the fear of pathologies in the development of the fetus, stillbirth or injury to the child during childbirth. The health of the baby and its preservation is one of the most important concerns during pregnancy, since it is not always possible to personally influence something. An ectopic or frozen pregnancy can only be determined by a doctor, and the pregnant woman will not be able to influence it - the process is irreversible. It is also impossible to feel the pathology of development, as well as to feel the birth of a dead child before it leaves the birth canal. It will not be possible to predict the behavior of a doctor who can injure a newborn by accident, or completely control his behavior. A pregnant woman is dependent on environmental factors: doctors, ecology, unforeseen incidents, etc.
fear of pain. The strongest and most comprehensive fear that haunts a woman throughout pregnancy. She begins to fear suffering from the stories of friends who have already given birth or from her own knowledge. Pain is never the same, so the uncertainty of your future sensations is scary.
Fear of childbirth. Most often, it manifests itself acutely closer to the term of delivery and covers the woman completely. To avoid or minimize it, pregnant women attend specialized courses where they learn how to behave during childbirth, pain relief techniques and communication skills with newborns.
Fear of an unplanned pregnancy. It can be present in women at any age and any financial situation. Most often, it is formed under the influence of environmental factors: the opinions of a partner (spouse), relatives or friends, lack of material resources (according to the girl herself or her environment), an imaginary inability to cope with a child. This fear can be minimized by having the necessary knowledge on the prevention of unplanned pregnancy and methods of contraception, as well as information about motherhood as an excellent destination for the weaker sex.
Fear of being unattractive due to pregnancy and childbirth. It arises due to the negative experience of others and intrusive stories of the Internet. In the fight against it, the support of the spouse and relatives, as well as knowledge about how to restore the body and figure after childbirth, will help. The right focus on motherhood will help to avoid unnecessary fears.

The famous psychiatrist G.I. Kaplan divided fears into two types: constructive and pathological. At the heart of the constructive is the instinct of self-preservation. These are such fears that will help the expectant mother to always be on the alert, not to miss dangerous sensations or changes in herself or the baby, and to respond to the situation in time.

Pathological or destructive anxiety underlies obsessive-compulsive states - phobias, they lead to mental disorders of the personality, as well as to such severe forms as depression. Having identified such fears, the intervention of a competent specialist is most often required - a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst or psychiatrist.

Pathological fears during pregnancy are especially dangerous, as they affect the mental health of not only the woman herself, but also the formation of the child's psyche.

How to overcome fears during pregnancy

It is normal to be afraid during pregnancy, but only if the fears do not threaten the health of the baby and the mental health of the mother. Constructive fears can be overcome by expanding your knowledge of pregnancy and its course, as well as after talking with your doctor.

Algorithm for getting rid of fears in a pregnant woman

To deal with destructive obsessive states, the following algorithm is used.

The mechanism of dealing with pathological fears:

Determination of the cause of fear (according to the pregnant woman);
Identification of the destructive component at the cognitive level (thoughts that caused fear);
Determination of the nature of fear (negative previous experience, stories of others, Internet information, etc.);
Development of a scheme of actions to combat fear - certain actions, drug treatment, psychological support for a pregnant woman;
Control throughout the path to overcome fear by a competent person (obstetrician-gynecologist, psychologist, psychotherapist and other specialists);
Analysis of the obtained results.

This is a general framework that can be applied to any approach to dealing with fears.

Art therapy in the fight against fears in a pregnant woman

It is known that the visualization of fear is 50% of success in the fight against it. Having portrayed her phobia, a woman removes the psychophysiological tension of the whole body, transferring it to paper. A feature of this direction is a specific psychological mechanism - creative activity in which a pregnant woman manifests herself as a person in all the versatility of connections and structures.

There are a number of exercises that are performed as part of art therapy:

"This is my fear!" The subject is asked to portray fear in a free form and describe it in detail in all details. This is how the awareness and elaboration of anxiety states, their verbalization takes place, which makes the pregnant woman pronounce the strategy of behavior in an alarming situation.
"Acting with Fear". The subjects depict fear, as in the previous task, but instead of describing it, they must figure out what to do with this image: crumple, throw away, tear, wet, etc. Such actions are fought on a subconscious level. The subconscious remembers the algorithm of behavior in the event of this phobia, the reaction to it will be different, softer than before.
"Fairy Thread". A ball of thread is taken, and the presenter begins the story, for example: “Once upon a time there was a girl Lucy, and she was so afraid to give birth that ...”, ends the phrase and passes the ball to the next one in a circle, which continues this story. So the ball is passed around in a circle to all the members of the group until the fear ceases to be frightening.

Art therapy is applied both individually and in a group approach. Given the specifics of the pregnancy period and female psychology in general, group classes will be more constructive and emotionally positive for a pregnant woman, in which a woman can feel not alone in her fears, understand what all pregnant women are going through, thus it will be easier for her to cope with her phobias .

Gestalt Therapy to Overcome Pregnancy Fears

The main concept in this psychological direction is gestalt. This is a kind of image that haunts a person. The main task of the Gestalt therapeutic school of psychology is to close this obsessive negative image, that is, to overcome your fear.

Exercises for pregnant women in the framework of Gestalt therapy:

The perception of phobias as a holistic process, independent of the will of a person. The subjects replace the phrase “I’m afraid…” with “There is some fear in me…” As a result, the ratio of the “figure-background” concepts turns the initial chain of fear into “There is fear in me, the causes of which are incomprehensible to me and do not depend on me…” In the internal in terms of personality goes through a series of transformations that lead to insight (enlightenment). The reunification of internal and external feelings, the realization that fear does not depend on a person and is a holistic process, makes you change life priorities and correctly place accents.
"Self-flagellation". It is a reunion of the opposites of personality. The subjects compare their fear and courage in the situation "here and now". A dialogue is being built, during which the integration of fear as an emotional and sensory experience into the space surrounding the individual takes place. The main task of the exercise is unity with oneself, the full awareness of fear.

Note! The performance of psychological tasks will bring results only if they are carried out under the guidance of a psychologist or psychotherapist! Only a competent specialist will be able to properly build a lesson and consolidate the result.

What are fears during pregnancy and how to deal with them - look at the video:

The main thing in overcoming fear is to remember that all this is for the sake of the mental and physical health of the baby, and then success will not be long in coming!

Let's talk in detail about what causes future mothers are most worried about, why this happens and what are the ways to get rid of the most common female fears.

Fear of losing a child. This fear, according to surveys of women, is in first place. Indeed, everything fades into the background if the very continuation of pregnancy, the life of the child, is endangered. Depending on the timing, this fear takes various forms. In the first trimester - fear of miscarriage, missed pregnancy. In the second - abortion for medical reasons. In the third - premature birth, breech presentation of the fetus, in general, everything that can threaten the life of a newborn. All kinds of superstitions that pregnant women adhere to are associated with this fear, for example, they hide their pregnancy to the last or do not buy before childbirth.

Fear for the child. The next type of fear is associated with the condition of the baby and the influence of various factors on him. Some mothers find out about their situation unexpectedly, and therefore they are afraid that an unhealthy lifestyle (smoking, drinking alcohol, drugs) could negatively affect the development of the fetus. The rest of the time, fears can cause stressful situations, flights, mother's illness. It is interesting that fears for the condition of the child arise most often where the mother herself experiences discomfort. If the load and troubles are easily tolerated by her, then there is usually no cause for concern.

Future fears. Some mothers, even before the birth of a child, are worried about whether there will be enough funds for his upbringing, whether they will be able to cope with material responsibilities. Someone is seriously afraid of being a bad mother, while someone, on the contrary, is worried about work, about their favorite activities. Suddenly, those who say that after childbirth one's own life ends are right?

Relationship fear. A child is a new person, a new member of the family. How will his appearance affect the relationship between the spouses? Strengthen or destroy marriage? How will other relatives, such as grandparents, behave?

But at first, not even these questions may worry, but the fact that you need to tell your husband, parents, superiors about your situation. If there is no certainty that they will take the news with joy, then it can be scary to do so.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the father of the child. Now, when the fates of the parents are forever connected by a little man, restless thoughts periodically visit the expectant mother. Will there be a happy life together? How will a loved one cope with the role of a father and will his attitude towards his wife change?

Fear for yourself. Pregnancy is a special time for every woman. Now her body belongs not only to her, but also to the unborn child, and it is difficult to predict what the body's reaction to this fact will be. And the unknown is always scary. And so mothers begin to imagine all sorts of “horrors” - both painful, and extra pounds, and pains of “unclear etiology”. And if such a suspicious mother comes across obstetric literature, she will manage to find symptoms of serious diseases in herself.

By the end of pregnancy, there may be a fear of childbirth, before something unpleasant for the woman in labor can happen in them, for example, you will have to do a caesarean section or an episiotomy. And someone is afraid of even ordinary procedures.

Fear yourself. Don't think we're repeating ourselves. Fear for yourself, your health, well-being is one thing. And to be afraid of yourself, which has suddenly become so unpredictable (irritable, emotional, whiny, anxious) is quite another. Sometimes a woman feels that she has changed beyond recognition and is unable to influence this circumstance in any way. They are frightened by unexpected and too strong reactions to various, sometimes the most ordinary, situations, because because of them it becomes impossible to control their behavior at work, in communication with loved ones.

Fear of unexpected trouble. And, of course, there is always the possibility that something will happen suddenly and turn our calm and measured life upside down. Here expectant mothers have full scope for imagination! But the most typical surprises that they would not want to face are:

poor test results;
find out that they are expecting twins;
find out that the child is of the opposite sex;
start giving birth on the road;
that the water will break in a public place.

How to deal with fears?

There is such a thing - "psychoprophylaxis". If the expectant mother tends to worry and wind herself up with or without reason, it is worth starting general soothing measures.

Secondly, the prevention of the occurrence of fears is a healthy lifestyle. A woman who walks a lot, gets enough sleep, does it right and does special gymnastics (swimming, yoga) and breathing exercises, has a stronger nervous system, which means she is less prone to anxiety and stress.

Thirdly, fears, like other negative emotions, cannot be kept in oneself. This does not mean that you need to constantly complain to family and friends. They can simply be spoken aloud or written down on paper, or drawn, or sculpted. In any case, it is already possible to do something with the fears taken out, because it has become concrete. There are many ways to deal with fear. For example, exaggeration - to be afraid much more than the situation deserves, to bring fear to the limit, and therefore to the point of absurdity. Or express fear in some object (diary entry, drawing, craft) and throw it away. You can change the "pole" - make fear funny (draw flowers, hearts, smiles in the picture).

If prevention hasn't worked, or if you're naturally inclined to take everything too personally and feel that it won't hold up soon, it's time to move on to treatment.

The most popular sedatives among expectant mothers are, of course, tincture of motherwort and valerian. They are relatively safe during pregnancy, so that doctors willingly prescribe them to their exciting patients, and they themselves feel the need to drip a “motherwort” for themselves. The effect is usually positive. You can take it according to the instructions, or you can pour a vial of tincture into water and take a bath.

For most women, these methods are enough to keep their fears under control.

Hello dear readers. The topic of fear is very important. First, everyone has them. And everyone interacts with them in some way. Agree with me that fears start in the head?

First, a thought appears, random, someone else's or your far-fetched, and after it the reaction in the whole body. Sometimes fears are fuzzy, in the form of anxiety. Fear is an emotion, a feeling with a huge supply of potential energy.

This compressed energy is always ready, as a compressed spring will unfold into an arrow rushing towards the target. Potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. A goal is what we want, what we think about and where we direct our attention.

Family, work, welfare, creativity, development. When a woman experiences fear, her body shrinks, breathing becomes shallow and does not provide the necessary blood supply to the organs.

The brain also suffers from a lack of oxygen and nutrients. To think about the good, energy is also needed. If fear turns into panic, the body simply freezes and in this state you cannot harm yourself, but you can not help yourself from your own power of destruction.

We'll have to wait or ask for help from outside. If instead of dreaming of a healthy, cute baby, a loving and caring husband, a pleasant, beloved, highly paid job in a friendly team, you dream of the opposite, where there will be more strength, this is the truth of life.

When your script of life is fulfilled, you can say: “I am so tired!”. Certainly. For something to happen, you need to think about it! And apply certain actions or inactions. Another thing is to learn to be the master of your head and its harmony with the body! You can turn off the TV, of course, but the neighbors will still say about the new news and living in fear, you will want to find out for yourself about what is scary. No wonder kids love scary stories so much. There is a lot of energy there. And what kind of energy do we know? Solar, radiation, electrical, atomic, biological, thought energy, thermal, chemical, magnetic field energy and the one that I don't know yet.

There is a great variety of such energies in the human physical body. Energy can be free and bound, unidirectional and multidirectional. Nature has endowed a woman with strength capable of much. From some men you can hear that a woman is a weak creature from which there is nowhere to go. Why do we need so many?

For creation, creativity of our life, because we are co-creators with a divine beginning. A pregnant woman has these powers many times over. She needs this in order to endure and give birth to educate the next generation, to transform her strength into the comfort of a home, tasty and healthy food, a fairy tale for children, the strength to motivate her husband to improve the well-being of the family, and for some people to earn money and realize themselves in society.

To think of what her husband will give her, he can’t do everything. If this is the case, then there is no place for fear. What to do when fear breaks through? We are human beings, social beings and it is safer to live in society. But the society is very close, the information world is overloaded. In my practice, there was a case when a pregnant woman listened to a TV program about home birth, she was very nervous, thinking about those who did not have time to get to the maternity hospital and began to give birth. The paramedic of the ambulance had only to take the birth at home. So she formed an undesirable situation in herself, though everything ended well.

The second case occurred with a pregnant woman who was afraid to ride the bus alone without her husband. She passed out on the bus, she became ill when she went to work. I had to be hospitalized. On the eve of discharge, in good condition, there was again a loss of consciousness - it fell into the hands of her husband during discharge, and there was no ammonia at the post. Alcohol was immediately brought from the office, but there was a lot of talk that doctors might not provide timely assistance.

Thus, the fear of distrust of doctors was realized, and dependence on the presence of her husband nearby. Psychological work was carried out with the woman, she understood and recognized the reaction of the body to situations. She took responsibility for her condition, then no more loss of consciousness was observed. Favorably and in a timely manner, she gave birth to a healthy baby.

What are the main fears of pregnant women?

Fear of loss of the fetus, pathology in the fetus / deformity, illness /.
Fear of pain during childbirth, birth trauma, ruptures, surgery, possible anesthesia and its consequences.
Fear of changing your body and losing love for yourself, the usual relationship with your husband, the fear of his misunderstanding of your condition.
Fear of getting harm from the activities or inaction of doctors or untimely low-quality assistance. The reason for this fear is the distrust of health workers. Unfortunately, medical errors do happen. And such events are not accidental, they are attracted precisely by women who read horror stories on the Internet, or listen to neighbors, girlfriends, close relatives who had such a negative experience of communicating with doctors and an unfavorable outcome of childbirth.
Fear of responsibility for a new life, for a baby who was born, fear of not being able to cope with the duties of a mother. The basis of such fear can be uncertainty, doubts, lack of information about one's actions, disbelief in oneself and one's loved ones. Most often, these are women who condemn the actions of their parents, girlfriends who have parental experience. What can you do for yourself and your family, for health and prosperity.

1. Take responsibility for your health. Since you are pregnant, then everything is in order, your baby is already with you. Provide him with joy and comfort. For now, he can only rejoice in your emotions. Eat right, follow medical prescriptions, if any.

Any fear is a lack of information. Once you know what excites you, peace comes. You are the director of your life, because you dreamed of pregnancy and she appeared. Express gratitude to your parents and your man, the father of the child.

You can use the following psychological technique: Take 2 notebooks, one with black crusts, the other any color, as you like. Write, draw, write down your fears, no matter how terrible they are in a notebook with black crusts, when it's scary then write. Through the muscle strength of the fingers holding a pencil or pen, a brush, if you want to paint your fear with paints, the power of fear that was in your head will flow onto a sheet of paper. The head will feel lighter, and the body will respond with a deep breathing movement - you will feel it by a change in the chest, a fuller exhalation, the spine will straighten, the shoulders will slightly lower, muscle tension will go away, a smile will appear, new thoughts will begin to come.

Perhaps the thoughts will disappear for a moment - that's very good. Your sensitivity will increase. Then you open your beautiful notebook and write there, draw what you want, your new situation for the fulfillment of desires, a favorable prognosis for childbirth and the birth of a baby, etc.

Be sure to feel the good result of childbirth, your relationship with doctors, with relatives, with your baby, draw your first meeting with your child. If the power of fear is great, come up with big, interesting events in your life. A new apartment, new incomes, new pleasant relationships in the family. Then the space of fears will change to the space of love in your family. For self-help, you can chew on raisins and watch your thoughts change.

2. Visit the antenatal clinic doctor, midwife in a timely manner, follow their advice and medical prescriptions, if necessary. Discuss possible outcomes that you do not understand with your doctor. Follow the action plan outlined by the doctor. Eat right, get enough sleep for a good night's sleep. If you need help from loved ones, ask for it, as sometimes it is necessary, for example, when you are hospitalized in a hospital.

3. Stop scaring your husband with your conditions, sometimes not very comfortable, but not fatal. Men are very worried about you if something is wrong and are always ready to help you, but they don’t know how, so tell them more often what to do for you.

4. Attend pregnancy school, exercise regularly, this will prepare your body for the upcoming birth. Sometimes a woman does not do physical exercises, believing that movement in the garden or at work is enough. Dear women, this is not true. During the exercises, the work of all the muscles associated with breathing is proposed. Tension - inhale, relaxation - exhale. At the same time, you feel your muscles, the degree of their fitness. When you feel, there are no practical thoughts, the head rests, the energy of the body rises, the body becomes light and elastic. During physical labor, thoughts come into your head and energy is spent on solving various problems, often unrelated to you - as a result, fatigue and irritation will appear.

5. Love yourself, your family, trust yourself, find out about yourself a new, pregnant woman, keep a diary of your behavior and emotions. Remember that you create the world you live in! Open the space of love and joy and a healthy baby will certainly come there.

If you have had a negative experience in your life (ectopic pregnancy, frozen, abortion or spontaneous miscarriage), perceive the new pregnancy as a new one, and not a repetition of the old one. Change the habit of thinking badly about yourself to a new - positive one, defuse yourself with laughter, jokes, joy! Praise yourself for the courage to become a mother! I wish you well-being, smart and friendly doctors and midwives!

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Most women meet the news of the onset of pregnancy with joy and awe. Many of them say that the period of expectation of a child was the happiest in their life. However, many of the women, being pregnant, simultaneously experience a lot of fears that are characteristic only for pregnant women. For them, the period of pregnancy is a period of anxiety and various fears.

The state of anxiety and mental stress is undesirable for a woman expecting a child. Such an emotional background negatively affects physical health: immunity decreases, various diseases can “cling” or chronic ones become aggravated; experiences take a lot of strength, respectively, there will be fewer of them; a baby who perfectly feels the alarming state of the mother can be born nervous and noisy. Moreover, a high level of anxiety can lead to an increase in uterine tone and termination of pregnancy.

What are pregnant women afraid of?

The main fear that torments expectant mothers is fear of losing a child. This is especially true for those women whose previous pregnancy ended in miscarriage or the death of a child in childbirth. For some of them, the fear can reach such a point that they lose sleep, constantly listening to what is happening to them. You can calm yourself only by abstracting from the flow of negativity that falls on us from everywhere. If someone had something bad, then it is not at all necessary that the same fate will befall you, even if you are at risk. If the previous pregnancy ended sadly, this does not mean at all that this one will end the same way.

Fear of deviations in the development of the child. For this fear, we should be grateful to the media and the ubiquitous girlfriends. Someone once joked that pregnant women should be given a free set of earplugs. In fact, there is always an informed friend / neighbor / relative in their environment, stuffed with all sorts of horror stories about pregnant women and ready to spread them to their future mother from morning to night. These are endless stories in the power of “But one drank / smoked / danced and she had a sick child”, which strongly affects the nerves of the expectant mother. The only way to get rid of annoying storytellers is to explain to them that it is unpleasant for you to listen to these stories, turn around and leave.

Childbirth fear. Even women giving birth to a second or third child are subject to fear of childbirth. This fear is natural, because childbirth is a difficult test for a woman and for a newborn baby. Because childbirth is by and large a lottery, it is not known how it will end. The fear of labor pain is also natural, a person with a normal psyche seeks to avoid pain, only masochists are not afraid of it. Childbirth should be approached from the position of "no childbirth lasts forever." With the modern development of medicine, doctors have many opportunities to alleviate childbirth suffering for a woman; this help should not be rejected. You also need to think about the fact that you share the hardships of childbirth with your child, who during contractions and attempts is under a lot of stress, who literally has to go through a difficult path to the light of God, and your task is to make it easier for him to go through this path.

Fear of becoming unattractive to the spouse. Some women are very worried about the changes taking place with their body: the belly grows, extra pounds appear, the face blurs, the gait changes, age spots may appear on the face. And now, not an elegant girl with a flying gait, but a clumsy “barrel” is moving around the apartment. However, as life shows, the vast majority of men perceive these changes quite adequately, and many men, on the contrary, find pregnant women attractive. Husbands are well aware that the spouse has changed because she is carrying a child, this usually makes them more careful towards her.

As it turns out, many expectant mothers are tormented by fear of being unprepared for motherhood, that is, simply put, to be a bad mother “I can’t do anything! I don’t even know how to approach a child!” - if they don’t complain, then such women think about themselves. To get rid of such thoughts, you should devote your free time on vacation before giving birth to reading literature on child care, perhaps signing up for courses for new mothers, where they will teach you how to swaddle, change diapers, and talk about the basics of child care. And, of course, do not neglect the help of grandmothers and experienced friends.

Of course, getting rid of fears is not easy. Of great importance in the development of fears is the nature of the woman, and the situation in the family, the attitude of those close to her pregnancy, the level of anxiety with which the woman began the pregnancy. It should be borne in mind that in pregnant women, due to their position, the hormonal background changes, and this also contributes to the development of nervousness, irritability, and fears. But this does not mean that everything should be left to chance. For a believing woman, the period of pregnancy is a period of special appeal to God, the Mother of God, the holy intercessors. Surrendering oneself to the hands of God helps to get rid of very many experiences. For those who do not feel the strength to cope with fears on their own, a psychologist will help.

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