ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the elements which are essential for a presentation of masturbation. The elements include the subjects of masturbation, the origins of masturbation, and aim and effects of masturbation. The struggle to abstain from masturbation occurs in two developmental phases, in the transition to the latency period and in puberty. In both phases two opposing principles are at work to achieve abstinence: a biological and a pedagogical one. As regards the somatic effects, apparently only the quantitative factor is important. Moderate masturbation, in the view of all authors, is harmless. The constitutional factor has to be considered in the etiology of the masturbatory damage. The most striking factor among the effects of masturbation, etiologically as well as symptomatologically, is anxiety. Anxiety, first a free-floating feeling of insecurity and oppression, is rationalized, that is, it is bound to an idea, the anxiety-producing significance of which has validity before the judging conscience.
