I was continually molested as a child, and to cut a long story short, I have been seeing a renowned therapist for the past year who has helped me tremendously. My therapist said I need to use a therapy called "masturbatory reconditioning". He said that this technique has proven to be very affective for cases like mine. I just wanted to check if this therapy is halachicaly allowed in a situation where this is an integral part of my recovery?
Hi, I am not a Rav, but you may be able to ask your question on-line anonymously. I set up a page now, especially for you, where people can ask intimate halachic questions on-line. See here:
Personally, I feel that this is a strange approach. I am sure that many other therapists could find you a different approach. Would it be possible for you to look into finding a different therapist, or for your therapist to look into alternate treatments? (Perhaps look into EMDR treatment).
See below what someone recently sent me in regard to the halachic severity of wasting seed:
I was recently discussing with my wife about infertility problems and how sad it is for some people that we know etc. She mentioned a certain fact to me that gave me a shiver right up my spine. I want to tell you about it in case this is something that may help some people overcome the problem of masturbation.
She told me that when frum couple have to begin infertility treatment, before even entertaining the possibility that the husband may be the problem and doing anything about it, they first have to ascertain that the wife is not the problem. This can take months and months - maybe longer. Why do they do that? Wouldn't checking out the husband at the same time make the chances of having a child improve? The answer is... Yes, it will. But since this will require the husband to produce a sample of his sperm, it cannot be done until we know for a fact that his wife is not the source of them being childless. So severe is it to waste seed, that even though they may have long been able to hold and cradle a child of their own... and wake up to the sound of a crying baby.... - it cannot override the issue of wasting seed. Even that is considered wasting it!