When you are dealing with a serious compulsion or addictive pattern, then by definition self-will, self-discipline, and any other machinations of the conscious mind are not enough by themselves to handle the problem. It is like a breaker switch in your brain is simply flipped. Anybody who has had this kind of a problem knows that it doesn't matter how intelligent you are. Sigmund Freud said, "Intelligence will be used in the service of the neurosis."
We are so trained in the thought system of fear and attack that we get to the point where natural thinking - love - feels unnatural and unnatural thinking - fear - feels natural. It takes real discipline and training to unlearn the thought system of fear.