I don't think that self-hating isn't studied at all.

More like its coping strategies and the social effects thereof not being studied. The issue is, people just thing they like e.g. D&D, they don't know they are doing it to cope with self-hatred. On the other hand, psychologists study self-hatred but do not look into the hobbies it causes and the social response of them.

There are many ways to escape reality besides fantasizing being a hero.

Such as drugs, but the point here is not the escaping the reality of circumstances but ones own self.

TM: Not much, about 6 months. Still it helped me ease up. I accept the argument that it is only an initial boost if you are very tight to begin with.