I think you're spot-on. My thought has been that rather than Hart and Cohle working together, that possibly Cohle is playing the long game while Hart has become indoctrinated... But your version is more palatable!

It already sounds like his wife has her own issues too (someone mentioned prior abuse) - does he force her to be in the room every time he masturbates to stay un-gay? If she's not in the mood, those incidents could be like triggers or abuses over and over again. Not unlike a stranger-creeper in a park or on a subway,…