This definitely touches on one important aspect of difficulty in enduring an addiction one is trying to cease. A promise broken thousands of times, and yet still made again.

However if it is the very cycle itself that increases the effort necessary for breaking out of it, how tied to self-worth is it for different people? When one is the subject and the researcher or the judge, defendant, and prosecutor simultaneously - it can be much more challenging to locate the anchor to which self-worth is tied.