This is only an opinion as I am not a trained psychologist, but my opinion from personal experience and observation is that addictions are a mask for underlying issues and the basic human need articulated by the Buddha as either a “desire” or “aversion”.  Addiction gives a temporary respite from whatever place we are in, a promise of moments of increased happiness.  So we follow our inherent drivers and replace pain with pleasure.

What is so bad about this?  Well, what goes up  must go down and overall the net is further down, especially as allowing our addiction to have its way when we, from our intellectual perspective, know it is the wrong action, further diminishes our overall self worth.

Secondly, with repetition, the pleasure derived from our addiction diminishes, so we constantly look for bigger hits to achieve the same result which can escalate very quickly from a minor addiction to a major addiction.

There is a great quote from the movie Candy which sums this concept up well.  “ When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to you are not able to”

So, the secret here is first of all to have high levels of awareness for when your actions are tipping into addictive in nature, and then look to the real root cause and addresses this… of course follow the Buddha philosophy you would find a place where you were free from aversion and desire and then you would be free and happy no matter happened to you.

In the event that this nirvana is not yet in your grasp, look for the cause of your happiness and try and take some positive action to resolve the issue or change your perspective on the situation, or just go out and do something positive (even if it is the last thing you might feel like doing).

How to cure and addiction