Fear of bearing a malformed child

An abnormal and persistent fear of bearing a malformed child is termed teratophobia. A phobia is an unreasonable sort of fear that can cause avoidance and panic. Phobias are a relatively common type of anxiety disorder. The term "teratophobia" is made up of "terato-" and - "phobia." "Terato-" comes from the Greek "teras" meaning monster + "-phobia" from the Greek "phobos" meaning fear = literally, fear (of) monsters. Teratology is the study of malformations and a teratogen is anything that can cause a birth defect. The term dysmorphophobia also means fear of bearing a malformed child. Dysmorphology is another term for the study of congenital malformations (birth defects).