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[Raskolnikov] had to tell her [Sonia] who had killed Lizaveta. He knew the terrible suffering it would be to him and, as it were, brushed away the thought of it. (5.4.1) Raskolnikov knows that confessing, the act of speaking his crimes, causes him to suffer – yet, he can't stop doing it. He needs to tell. The suffering of telling is less than the suffering of not telling.

[Raskolnikov:] "They say it is necessary for me to suffer! What's the object of these senseless sufferings? Shall I know any better what they are for, when I am crushed by hardships and idiocy, and weak as an old man after twenty years' penal servitude?" (6.8.75) Here Raskolnikov is questioning the high premium everybody places on suffering as he debates whether or not to turn himself in, and submit to prison. Also notice that he thinks he'll get at least twenty years in prison, but he only gets eight.