Example A) John is a fat fook. This makes him feel he worthless which makes him depressed, he comfort eats because that is the only thing giving him join in the emotional pain, feels like an even bigger piece of shit, is even fatter, hates himself even more, comfort eats more. Would like to lose weight, but if he stopped comfort eating he would not instantly become thin, so for months on he would have to live with himself, hating his fat self, WITHOUT comfort eating so entirely expose to that depression, to that pain.

Example B) largely the same logic with boozing, hates himself because a drunk, drinks because only drink makes it possible to feel less pain from hating himself, would like to stop but then he would have to face feeling that he is a piece of shit and cannot face that thought without booze (typically it happens to older men, dads etc.)

These are just two examples, there are probably others (gaming addiction? pron?) but basically, how do men stop this cycle? That they have to stop a bad habit, but on one hand it is the bad habit itself that makes them feel shit about themselves and on the other hand the bad habit helps coping feeling like shit.

I am currently reading https://www.amazon.com/Biology-Desire-Why-Addiction-Disease/dp/1610394372 and the author means precisely this: this is why people get addicted to bad stuff, not to good wholesome stuff. Because if a good thing makes you feel good, great. But if a bad thing makes you feel good, then you feel ashamed for doing such bad thing, you feel you are shit, and it hurts, hence you do the bad thing again to lift your mood, repeat forever...