A technique I've found useful in getting off a minor harmful addiction is redirection.
For example, one time I wanted to stop drinking soda. At the time I was often given work to do that required a lot of concentration and was a little boring. Soda tasted good, so for me it was a compensation for doing the boring work, and the hit of caffeine and sugar helped me plow through and to get it done.
So it was hard for to just stop. I'd desire to go get a soda, and it was hard to ignore the desire and just not do it. However, I found I could redirect the desire and get a non-caffeine diet soda instead.
Now, the thing is I didn't like diet soda. It tasted bad, and of course didn't give me the caffeine and sugar rush either. But somehow, when the desire came to me to get a soda, I was able to go get a diet soda instead. It was like some more primitive part of my brain was saying, "soda! want soda! gimme soda!" and I'd say, "ok, fine, here, have a soda", and get a diet soda. My primitive brain would say, "yuck! blech! tastes bad! don't like!" and I'd say, "fine, you don't like soda, don't ask for a soda". After a while my addiction was broken, and I didn't crave soda any more. Now I happily drink tea instead.
I week ago I posted in my journal about how I've been enjoying watching some episodes of Battlestar Galactica, but the next day I'd find my mind unpleasantly resonating with images of violence. However, hooked by the story, this past week I've been watching more episodes. I woke up the other day with vivid images of torture replaying in mind. (Some of the crew of Battlestar Galactica think that torturing Cylons is OK, with the reasoning that "although they look human they are actually machines"). I said, "OK, I want to stop doing this, I don't like waking up in the morning and be lying in bed seeing images of brutal torture".
So how to redirect? Aha, go online and read all the plot synopses of the episodes I haven't seen yet.
