Dr Robert Rich, M. Sc. Psychologists Addictions are habits. Some addictive substances grab you physiologically as well, but above all, you respond to a habit. After two weeks without smoking, you are over the nicotine. Marijuana is not physiologically addictive at all, and yet it can be very hard to give up.
Thoughts are habits.
Sometimes, a person suffers emotional hell for years, and nothing changes. If things stay the same, some force is keeping them that way. One very powerful barrier to change is a habitual thought. In a given circumstance, a thought pops into your head, and the emotion follows. Think back to the last time you felt miserable, and recall the thoughts associated with the emotion.