You need to accept that gratification will never result in satisfaction. This is something I know to be true, but I'm not sure I fully accept it yet. It's like scratching an itch.

You scratch the itch, it feels great. Then you're happy for a brief moment. You remember how good the itch-being-scratched feeling was. Then you start to itch again. (I hope nobody reads this whilst tweaking)

Knowing that if you fulfil the urge again, it still won't be satisfying is definitely part of the road to recovery though.