Masturbation while Dreaming

[scc11]

I know this sounds strange but during the past 2 nights Ive had dreams that I was masturbating. During these dreams II was telling myself what I was doing was OK because I was sleeping. I KNOW FOR A FACT I WAS NOT CONSCIOUSLY DOING THIS AND I WAS SLEEPING. What do I do or make of this? Do I need to confess these things? How can I prevent dreams like these?

 

[Bill_Martin]

Perfectly natural for that to happen while sleeping. It’s your body’s way of getting rid of excess semen. There’s nothing to confess because you didn’t choose to do it; you were asleep.

 

[Elizium23]

It is easy to “commit sins” in dreams because it is a realm of fantasy and we understand that on some level even while in an altered state of consciousness. I do this routinely, I feel my conscience struggling with a sinful act and I feel the devil telling me it is OK to do. Then I do it and I wake up in a state of panic. Rest assured, this can never send you to confession or interfere with your state of grace. Full consent of the will is required for grave sin. Nobody has full control of their will while dreaming.

 

[scc11]

Bill,
Guess I should have clarified. I am a female. How one can dream about masturbation and feel like theyre doing it in a dream, Im not going to discuss but yeah.
Its been bothering me all day.

Perfectly natural for that to happen while sleeping. It’s your body’s way of getting rid of excess semen. There’s nothing to confess because you didn’t choose to do it; you were asleep.

 

[Bill_Martin]

Bill,
Guess I should have clarified. I am a female. How one can dream about masturbation and feel like theyre doing it in a dream, Im not going to discuss but yeah.
Its been bothering me all day.

Sorry.

Still natural, nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing to feel guilty about because you didn’t choose to do it.

 

[scc11]

No worries and thanks for your answer. I feel better now. Any advice on how to prevent these dreams? Are these dreams the evil one at work?

Sorry.

Still natural, nothing to worry about. Certainly nothing to feel guilty about because you didn’t choose to do it.

 

[Rhuarc]

Bill,
Guess I should have clarified. I am a female. How one can dream about masturbation and feel like theyre doing it in a dream, Im not going to discuss but yeah.
Its been bothering me all day.

Full consent of will is the key into making this a mortal sin, you do not have it. However I would still try to keep holy water by my bedside s if you wake up you can tell satan to go away.

 

[Elizium23]

No worries and thanks for your answer. I feel better now. Any advice on how to prevent these dreams? Are these dreams the evil one at work?

I don’t know of any sure way to prevent dreams. Surely this is the work of the evil one, who wants us to remain complacent in the face of sin, to lower our inhibitions, to give in to Earthly pleasure and temptation. The further one progresses in one’s life of faith and path to holiness, the cleverer and more frequent the attacks on our sanctity. I recommend to everyone that you pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer frequently, that you use a St. Benedict medal and crucifix, and of course stay close to the Church and always keep in mind the sorrowful passion of Our Lord.

 

[scc11]

Thanks for the info. I know some mention the rosary also. I have the rosary on my ipod. Does that count as praying it if I have my rosary in hand and go along with it?? I am new to praying the rosary and I find this helps me in learning how to pray it.

 

[Elizium23]

Of course it counts, as long as you are actively participating by meditating upon the meaning of the prayers and the fruits of the Mysteries.

 

[lssanjose]

Prayer is a powerful tool. It’s helped me, in my battles against doing such acts. It allows me to keep my sights on the real end state on life; and thus, live accordingly.

 

[MidnightSun12]

Perfectly natural for that to happen while sleeping. It’s your body’s way of getting rid of excess semen.

I respectfully disagree here. While I am not a medical professional by any means, I believe that the body should be able to easily re-absorb the un-used nutrients that are contained in excess semen. Our bodies naturally re-absorb pimples (any doctor will say that popping them is bad) so it just logically makes sense that our bodies wouldn’t naturally want to waste the nutrients contained in semen.

For example, with God’s help, I stopped masturbating almost a year ago and while I experienced wet dreams initially, they have become considerably less frequent and I almost never experience them now.

That’s not to say that wet dreams are sinful, but I do believe that they are “unnatural” (they are a grave matter, but the necessary full-consent is missing from the act which negates it’s sinfulness).

I recommend sleeping with a rosary under your pillow to help reduce these sorts of dreams.

scc11:

Thanks for the info. I know some mention the rosary also. I have the rosary on my ipod. Does that count as praying it if I have my rosary in hand and go along with it?? I am new to praying the rosary and I find this helps me in learning how to pray it.

First off, the rosary is a fantastic devotion and I applaud you for learning how to pray this incredibly powerful prayer! Our Holy Mother has attached tremendous promises to praying the rosary daily.

The best advice I can give you for praying the rosary is to concentrate as hard as you possibly can. Remember the words of St. Louis Marie De Montfort:

"In order to pray well, it is not enough to give expression to our petitions by means of that most excellent of all prayers, the Rosary, but we must also pray with real concentration, for God listens more to the voice of the heart than that of the mouth. To be guilty of willful distractions during prayer would show a great lack of respect and reverence; it would make our Rosaries fruitless and would make us guilty of sin. "
(source: sicutincaelo.org/12bfa.html)

Certainly don’t feel too beat up about involuntary distractions, but I do try to give myself some quiet time where I can sit and close my eyes to avoid all possible voluntary distractions (the rosary will certainly be much more effective if prayed this way, also).

 

[Catholic80]

I know this sounds strange but during the past 2 nights Ive had dreams that I was masturbating. During these dreams II was telling myself what I was doing was OK because I was sleeping. I KNOW FOR A FACT I WAS NOT CONSCIOUSLY DOING THIS AND I WAS SLEEPING. What do I do or make of this? Do I need to confess these things? How can I prevent dreams like these?

I too have had this dream… even when I haven’t masturbated (awake) in years. I wake up horrified. I also have had dreams where I am able to stop myself.

I don’t believe we sin when we sleep, even if we “gave consent” in the dream, and I’m pretty sure this is taught in the Church as well, but don’t quote me on that. However, I would suggest talking this over with a priest or counselor about the dream(s), or bringing it up in Confession (we can confess our struggles and temptations as well and should) because it could be a sign of something else. If you are still struggling internally with stopping masturbating, the dream could be one aspect of your subconscious. While you may have stopped during your waking hours, you still could be not at peace on a subconscious level. Confessing it will give you the strength and graces you need to help fight it. If you try to conquer it on your own, you may fall back into the habit.

In Fr. Groeschel’s book, “The Courage to be Chaste” he mentions dreams as being important to consider in this area regarding our sexuality. I look at some stories of the saints who struggled with sexual impurities, and they too struggle for years, and then they hit a point where they are freed from this struggle. It could be you may have stopped masturbating during waking hours, but your struggle continues because there is something you are not at peace with and it’s coming out in your dreams. So in essence, you are not “free” yet from this sin.

And really, who knows?? I am not a psychologist, apologist, or anything. This is just my guess, and I’m not really even sure about my guess… it’s just one theory I have.