In the novel Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, Morrie explains to Mitch that one way to deal with pain is to completely immerse yourself in that painful sensation, allowing for the full ability to detach yourself from that feeling.
This blog post by Lance Dodes harps on a similar idea which I found quite interesting: in order to become "un-addicted" to something, you must not repress your thoughts about your addiction. Dodes explains that one cannot simply push aside thoughts about, say, a yearning to drink excessively. By fully recognizing your need to drink, you have then become aware of your problem. Convincing yourself that you don't want to drink makes the problem worse in the apparent lack of self-recognition and acceptance. The easier it is to accept these thoughts, the easier is becomes to predict their onset, and therefore the easier to disengage with that obsession, reliance, and addiction on something, whatever it may be.
