History Main / DrowningmySorrows

* Sarah Packard in ''Film/TheHustler'' frequently does this, to forget her various past loves.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In "Car Trouble" in the first scene of the third act Cyborg is sitting despondently on a curb, having failed to get his car back from Gizmo, surrounded by empty milkshake cups. Presently Raven shows up, looks at the cups and remarks, "Fourteen milkshakes. Not a good sign."

* Creator/DanAykroyd began binge drinking after Creator/JohnBelushi died. He managed to cut down. Sort of. (He now owns a wine brand, is co-owner of a vodka brand, and owns the rights to Patron tequila in Canada.
* In an interview for the Creator/AppleTVPlus docuseries "The Me You Can't See", [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily Prince Harry]] admitted to doing this, along with taking drugs (thus explaining much of the "bad boy" behavior he was notorious for in his 20's) to cope with the pain of his mother's death.

* ''Film/GirlsLoveMagic'': After hearing Jamie getting into a fight with her ex, Maggie comes over bearing alcohol and ice cream for this purpose. Jamie quickly takes up her offer.

** Music/LadyA: "Hey Bartender"

** ''Music/TheDillards'': Implied in "Old Home Place". The singer says that all his money went to the taverns directly after mentioning his girlfriend running off with another man.

** Music/BradPaisley: "Whiskey Lullaby", oddly by both the cheated-on soldier or his cheating girlfriend. It...doesn't help.
** Trick Pony: "Pour Me"
** Eddie Rabbit: "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)"

* A great deal of country music practically glorifies this trope. In addition to the ones already mentioned, "Queen of the Silver Dollar" and "Whiskey River" come to mind.

** Music/TimMcGraw: "Refried Dreams," about driving SouthOfTheBorder to get drunk on tequila after your lover leaves you. It's a unique song even by genre standards and is solidly in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness for the artist.

** Music/TimMcGraw: "Senorita Margarita"

** Lonestar: "Tequila Talking"

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'''s stinger strongly implies that General Ross was drinking heavily (he is saying "reload" while downing several cups of liquor) after the events of having to let Hulk escape before Tony Stark shows up with the purpose of offending him so much he won't have Blonsky participate in the Avengers initiative.
** Subverted in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. Cap ''wants'' to drown his sorrows after [[spoiler:Bucky, his best friend, is killed]], but the super-serum he's been given has sped up his metabolism to the point that [[ImmuneToDrugs he can't get drunk]] no matter how hard he tries -- and if the bottle shown on the table was full when he started, he tried pretty damn hard.
** In ''Film/IronMan2'' Tony decides to get absolutely plastered at his birthday party [[spoiler:as his arc reactor is slowly killing him]]. He ends up blowing up half his house.
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' introduces Valkyrie, who drinks enough to impress ''Thor'' to drown out the memory of [[spoiler: being the [[LastOfHerKind only surviving Valkyrie]], as Hela killed all the others.]]
** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Thor's sorrows include a long list of {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s: the [[Film/ThorRagnarok deaths of his friends and family]], his [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar inability to protect his people, his failure to kill Thanos before he snapped half the universe out of existence]], and [[spoiler:for killing Thanos in a fit of rage after it was [[PyrrhicVictory already too late]] to save the people Thanos killed. When we see him again after the TimeSkip, he's a [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen miserable shell of himself]] who basically lives on alcohol and junk food, and has an enormous [[FormerlyFit beer belly]].]]

* [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel's Netflix shows]]:
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E12TheOnesWeLeaveBehind The Ones We Leave Behind]]", after Karen Page kills James Wesley and has a nervous breakdown, she spends several hours drinking every piece of alcohol in her apartment and has a ShowerOfAngst. Matt and Foggy notice, but don't know why. In fact, it's implied that this happens quite a lot.
** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Jessica, after her time held captive by Kilgrave.

* Kazehana, resident HardDrinkingPartyGirl of ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'' does this during a season two episode after [[spoiler: the death of Uzume]]. Much to her annoyance, she can't get drunk.

* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': In chapter 10 Shinji has spent several months keeping watch over [[spoiler:his comatose girlfriend]] Asuka, not knowing [[spoiler:whether she will ever wake up or not]] and his father -whom he has not seen in years- shows up to lecture him about -supposedly- neglecting his duties because he is infatuated with a pretty face. Feeling more angry and depressed, Shinji goes to a bar to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

* ''Literature/EvidenceOfThingsNotSeen'': When Tara's mom learns that [[spoiler:her husband was a drug dealer murdered by a seventeen-year-old prostitute he was having an affair with]], she goes straight to her room with a bottle of wine and drinks until she passes out.

** PlayedStraight in "[[Recap/AngelS02E11Redefinition Redefinition]]" when Angel fires the rest of his staff - they immediately go to a karaoke bar they know, get incredibly drunk, and sing "We Are The Champions". Badly.

* On ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Cory does this once after his break up with Topanga in season five. In a later episode, Shawn does this after [[spoiler: he is unable to find his real mother.]]

** He also got drunk in season four's "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]" when Spike's manipulations got him feeling he was useless.

** Mellie became a pretty heavy drinker in season 3, and it escalated to the point of constant inebriation after [[spoiler:Jerry's death.]] She still has occasion to hit the hooch now and then.

** It's shown that Sam and Bobby both drink a lot after Dean's death by hellhound at the end of season 3. Bobby, at least, has been hinted to be avoiding alcohol now, but with the whole Apocalypse, Sam using his powers, and Dean's memories of Hell, the boys have still been drinking in a not-so-healthy way.

** Dean's at the bottle again in season 7 after [[spoiler:Cas' death]].

* Brazil has "Garçom" ("waiter", the guy who the binge drinking protagonist speaks about his broken heart) and "Pinga Ni Mim" (DoubleEntendre: as it can be both "drops on me" - as the chorus mentions a leak - and "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacha%C3%A7a cachaça]] on me"; but many don't know it's about drowning romantic sorrows as [[ChorusOnlySong they only learned the chorus]]).

* The Demoman in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is characterized this way. His melee weapon is the very bottle he draws his "comfort" from, and his taunt for said weapon features him shouting "Cheers, mate!" and taking a hearty swig. A good number of his in-game lines either sound completely drunk or reference his being so ("I'm drunk - you don't have an excuse!", "Imagine if I ''hadn't'' been drunk!", etc.). His "Meet the Team" video features the strongest example of this trope, with him going from sober to somewhat wasted by the end and bemoaning the fact that he is "a black Scottish cyclops".

* This occurs in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' with Kinzo, as well as a few times with Beatrice and Battler.

* Whether he won or lost, after [[spoiler: the first case]] of ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney'' Jayjay Falcon spends three days, working on a fourth, in a very sorry state at a shabby students' bar. Sparrowson has to wake him up and bring him home. [[MultipleEndings Ending route 4B]] has [[InspectorJavert Volerti]] going MyGodWhatHaveIDone and hanging out at that same bar, to Falcon's dismay.
* ''VisualNovel/AmnesiaMemories'' shows Ikki to be this type of drinker, for the most part. He'll sometimes go drinking with Kent in a social matter, but his drinking is generally shown as a way to deal with emotional matters. He tends to drink when having difficulty dealing with his fanclub or other relationship problems, even calling the heroine while intoxicated, blabbing about a little, and pouring his heart out more than intended. He also turns out to be a [[SentimentalDrunk cuddler when drunk]].

* WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}'s ''WebAnimation/TheBlueShellIncident'' opens with Luigi ordering a spaghetti on the rocks from Toad, miserable over losing Mario.
* Boris aka "Daddy" from ''WebAnimation/CaillouTheGrownup'' has taken to drinking because he’s depressed that he has to put up with his son Caillou who became a PsychopathicManChild that makes his life a living hell.
* ''{{Machinima/Anon}}'': Chelsea's go to solution for any hardship she faces is to get drunk, unfortunately it almost always leads to her verbally or physically assaulting whoever's closest to her.

* Kevyn in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary''. It's not so much depression as a scramble to get a very disgusting image out of his head before it gets saved to long-term memory, though.

* Raphael in ''Webcomic/MutantNinjaTurtlesGaiden'' tended to do this regularly before the start of the storyline. Considering what happened, could you blame him?
* In ''Webcomic/GeneralProtectionFault'', Dexter does this with donuts after the girl he hooked up with at a speed dating event goes out with someone else. He plans on doing it again at a restaurant when the two dates that his friends arranged for him both leave until the woman he met at the first speed dating event shows up.
* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}''. After Dave and Helen break up, Dave and Artie go to a bar. Dave appears utterly drunk, but when another patron [[spoiler: who happens to be Dave's KidFromTheFuture]] asks what he's been drinking, Artie replies, "Half a glass of Vanilla Coke. And pathos."
* Steve from ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' does this rather hard in between relationships, and Faye will occasionally tend towards it a little bit too. [[spoiler:Marten did it REALLY hard, drinking a whole bottle after Dora's break-up with him.]]
** Faye [[spoiler: hit the bottle really hard after splitting up with Angus. So hard that she was brought to hospital with alcohol poisoning.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Faye:''']] I'm a coward who was too scared to take a risk on a good man. He left, and I drank to numb the pain. That cost me my job, so I drank to numb ''that''. ''That'' put me in hospital. And despite that, I'd kill for a drink right now.
* After everyone ignores his orders to not go off on [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl their]] [[EthicalSlut usual]] [[ProfessionalGambler shenanigans]], [[PointyHairedBoss General]] Izor from ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'' does this at the royal ball. Even funnier since [[spoiler: half the people he was ordering around were [[EnemyMine his enemies]]]].
* In ''Webcomic/BlueYonder'' [[http://www.blueyondercomic.net/comics/1310311/blue-yonder-chapter-1-page-30/ a father who drinks himself into oblivion every night is a good motive to help someone else who lost his family.]]

* [[http://hiddendepths.smackjeeves.com/comics/1356584/001-bulbasaur/ Bulbasaur does this]] after dropping a little girl in a [[BigNo failed rescue attempt]] in ''151 Hidden Depths''.
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/04i-11.html the Boy observes that back in his village a man, like November, was going mad for lack of sleep -- he resorted to drinking himself under the table.]]
* In ''Webcomic/MonsieurCharlatan'', Charlatan himself. Often.
* Happens in ''Webcomic/{{Roommates}}'' because it's a {{crossover}} and from a main cast of four characters two are romantic villains and one was TheRival. [[INeedAFreakingDrink So sometimes they just need a drink]]... or more. Also happens to the boys in the SpinOff ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor''.
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
** Roxy Lalonde is almost constantly drunk, and this is implied to be a coping mechanism for the fact that she is [[spoiler: living in the distant future where Earth has been taken over by a crazy space Empress trying to turn it into the new Alternia and where she is one of only two living humans. The fact that she doesn't feel she can tell her best friend Jane about any of this and has to pretend that her mother isn't long-since dead doesn't help]].
** Rose also admits to doing this in the alternate (doomed) timeline after [[spoiler: John is tricked by Terezi into getting killed]].
* ''WebComic/DragonBallMultiverse'':
** Cooler does this during the lunch break after his CurbStompBattle against Future Trunks.
** [[http://www.dragonball-multiverse.com/en/strip-42.html A minicomic]] did the same with [[ButtMonkey Frieza]], with hilarious results.
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'': After Erik and Adrien the waiter discover their shared experience of [=DiDi's=] casual unintended cruelty in relationships, they end up [[http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/to_didi! drowning their sorrows together.]] They also encounter Zii on a similar mission, after which [[ButLiquorIsQuicker things get complicated]]

* In ''Literature/{{Theatrica}}'', drowning one's sorrows is just what the doctor ordered.
* The [[NoNameGiven protagonist]] of ''Literature/SuperheroBlackHole'' has done this. This is not recommended for time-travelers, as they can drunkenly travel back in time and then change history and be unable to return to the present—as happens to our hero.
-->'''Protagonist:''' Because drunken time-jumping is a lot like trying to slam on a car’s brakes, but your foot keeps slipping and you hit the accelerator instead. It's terrifying. Eventually, I stopped myself and wound up in a few years ago. Which is where I accidentally punched a policeman, obliterated all chance of me going back to [[PsychoExGirlfriend Letrodacta]]’s birth, and eventually wound up here.
* ''Literature/CanYouSpareAQuarter'': Jamie tells Graham how other street children take drugs and alcohol to handle this miserable lifestyle.

* There's a running gag in ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'' that reviews of ''Marville'' drive Linkara to drink; when issue #3 comes around, even his alter-ego Holo-kara manages it.

* Gavin of ''WebVideo/KateModern'' binges on large quantities of alcohol when depressed.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' drowns his sorrows in ''ice cream'' in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. [[DrunkOnMilk It has the same effect on him as alcohol.]]
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', with StraightMan Mac loading himself up on ice cream to forget his troubles. Mac's metabolism can't handle sugar, and he acts like he's on speed.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The only reason Moe's Tavern has stayed in business after all these years.
** With a special nod to an episode where he gives Homer a special drink, specifically made to cause short-term memory loss. Of course, when he can't remember what he's supposed to forget, Homer comes to some pretty wild conclusions.
--->'''Moe:''' Frankly, I'm surprised you're not across the street, where they drink for fun, instead of here, where, uh... horrible addiction compels you.
** In "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" upon being told his plant needed $56 million in renovations to avoid being shut down Mr. Burns pulls out a liquor bottle and pounds shots for several hours, drunkenly stumbling to his car and sobbing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In "Car Trouble" in the first scene of the third act Cyborg is sitting despondently on a curb, having failed to get his car back from Gizmo, surrounded by empty milkshake cups. Presently Raven shows up, looks at the cups and remarks, "Fourteen milkshakes. Not a good sign."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'':
** Toki Wartooth does this after his father's death, getting hammered numerous times since then. The other band members note on this, with Skwisgaar saying he doesn't want to babysit Toki during Seth's wedding, and everyone being shocked that he's drinking straight vodka in the morning. [[spoiler:Ironically, he knocks out Nathan's assailant with a vodka bottle in the season 2 finale.]]
** It's strongly implied that this is what drove Pickles to become TheAlcoholic. [[spoiler:When Seth burned down the garage, he blamed Pickles and the rest of the family accepted it. He was ''six'' when he started drinking.]]
* K'nuckles from ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' seems to do this with "maple syrup". Also, in "High Land Lubber" he actually asks Peppermint Larry for something to drown his sorrows, [[spoiler:even though Peppermint Larry gives him prune juice.]]
* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny version of ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', Bugs himself is drinking carrot juice saying something similar to the film's true quote.
* Occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode, "I Will Kick No More Forever", when Vince starts losing his touch in every sport. The scene that features this trope is when he stays home from school binging out on root beer and donuts (complete with BalloonBelly) while watching video recordings of his previous games. Mikey even asks, "Don't you think you've had enough!?"
* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/ShinboneAlley'' after Mehitabel [[spoiler: tells Archy he's too low class to see her any more.]] He goes and gets plastered inside a liquor bottle.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Ass Burgers", this is effectively what the cynics do, all [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory ridiculousness]] aside. By the end of the episode, this is [[spoiler: what Stan turns to, [[NegativeContinuity possibly]] [[OffscreenInertia on a long-term basis]], just to get through a normal day.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' features Bolin doing this with [[DrunkOnMilk noodles]] after he sees [[spoiler: his crush Korra kiss his brother]]. He becomes uncoordinated, sullen and the next day is clearly hungover.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Gideon Rising", Grunkle Stan goes to Greasy's Diner and orders "your strongest, most expired cider" to drown his sorrows over losing the Mystery Shack to Gideon Gleeful and having to send Dipper and Mabel home early.
* When Tom gets jilted in the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/BlueCatBlues," he starts drinking. Apparently, in this cartoon, milk gets him drunk. His eyes form fuel gauges to register when he's full.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Mr. Greg", when Greg feels like he'll never be able to patch things up with Pearl, he goes down to the hotel bar and is seen with [[DrunkOnMilk a glass full of maraschino cherry stems]].
* In "Riot's Hope" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'', Riot sits around at a party drinking [[FrothyMugsOfWater not-alcohol]] gloomily by himself after learning his mother is sick and being forced to interact with his abusive father.
* [[WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko Jeremie Belpois]] attempts to do this with [[DrunkOnMilk hot chocolate]] when he is upset about the fact that the uranium battery is almost all used up and [[CantLiveWithoutYou if XANA dies, so does Aelita]]. He is interrupted before he gets close to raising it to his lips.

%% Do NOT link to manga scan sites. That's illegal.

%% Image chosen by Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1295223501094665800
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

* Lampe and Kim san Kaku go out and get plastered at the end of the intro comic of ''Manga/AstroBoy'' volume 5 after they learn they were both designed after Creator/OsamuTezuka's dorky elementary school classmates.

* The one image of Malcom Reynolds we get in ComicBook/FireflyBrandNewVerse is of him either asleep, passed out, or very drunk at a bar next to an alcohol bottle.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': After having to declare bankruptcy, sell his mansion and move into his condo in the city Jack Drake refuses to leave his bed for anything but to grab a bottle, change the music or grab a book leaving his wife and son to have to do all the paperwork involved in liquefying his assets and keeping the family afloat.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' May Tao goes this route after realizing she may be a journalistic one-hit wonder.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': Mr. Big defied the Kingpin for the [[EnemyCivilWar control of the criminal world]]. His henchmen, the enforcers, betrayed him and sided with Kingpin, and hold Mr. Big while Kingpin killed him. Sometime later, however, Ox is trying to get drunk, saying that "we are not men!", regretting the betrayal of his former boss.
* ComicBook/RedSonja frequently turns to alcohol to deal with her depression. Her volatile state when drunk has made her the bane of any unfortunate barkeep's existence.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' parodies this trope; Buzz Lightyear gets "drunk" at a little girl's tea party. Yes, on ''imaginary'' tea.
* In ''WesternAnimation/LovingVincent'', Armand has a few too many drinks after losing his job...ending in a drunken brawl that lands him in jail for the night.

* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', Shrek is at a tavern with Donkey and Puss in boots, [[DrunkOnMilk drowning his sorrows with milk]] after the Fairy Godmother made him believe that Fiona had left him for Prince Charming.

* Near the beginning of ''Film/Deadpool2'', after [[spoiler: Vanessa's death and becoming a DeathSeeker over it]], Wade Wilson starts drinking more than usual at [[BadGuyBar Sister Margaret's]]. In between swigs, he bemoans [[Music/GeorgeMichael George Michael's]] passing, and that "At least we still have [[Music/DavidBowie Bowie]]..."

* ''Film/MrRicco'': When George, a police detective, finds proof that a cop shot an unarmed man and planted a shotgun on him, he tells a fellow officer, "Let's get drunk."

%%* Okonkwo does this at one point in ''Literature/ThingsFallApart''.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts novel'' ''Honor Guard'', after a disaster, Gaunt takes to drowning his sorrows -- and not eating properly.
%%* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
%%** Aral Vorkosigan tries this in ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'' before his fiancée shows up and invalidates the need.
%%** Miles Vorkosigan does it too, on occasion; evidently, it's hereditary. Though his mother (that's the fiancée we mentioned) does also say it's partially Miles's attempt to uphold tradition.
* Athos of Dumas' ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' is prone to this. It's depicted as habitual and inexplicable until he tells his IHaveThisFriend story.

* Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''The Killing Grounds'' opens with a former soldier trying to drown his sorrows. He ends up [[DrivenToSuicide blowing his brains out]] as more effective.

* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' has a fair amount of this going on. Louis in ''Interview with the Vampire'' not only drinks away his sorrows but picks fights and sleeps with prostitutes, hoping to get himself killed. Later in ''Blackwood Farm'' Quinn also drinks away his sorrows and his fears. In ''Queen of the Damned,'' this is slightly subverted, as Daniel Molloy tries to drink away his madness (from the knowledge that vampires are real).
* Averted and played straight in ''[[Franchise/StarWars Starfighters]] [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse of]] [[Literature/XWingSeries Adumar]]'' - Wedge heads to a bar mostly for privacy while he thinks through some questions of honor vs. the chain of command (he doesn't get very drunk, either). However, at the bar, he runs across [[spoiler: Admiral Rogriss]], who decided the answer to his problem was to get stone drunk.
** Played straight in an earlier book of the series, when Ton Phanan, the CombatMedic of the squadron who is allergic to bacta and thus gradually becoming [[EmergencyTransformation more and more cybernetic]], drinks and tells his wingmate that he needs less and less to get drunk, because every year, less meat, more machine. He feels that his extensive cybernetics are an outward sign that his future [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul has been destroyed]], and he has no one.

** Hagrid in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' (implied). Sybil Trelawney as well, in the same book, more blatantly - how many times does one ''need'' to read "the strong smell of cooking sherry" before getting the hint?

* In the backstory for ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', a young Littlefinger does this after being (rather cruelly) rejected by his crush, Catelyn. Unfortunately for him, Cat's sister, Lysa is infatuated with him and [[QuestionableConsent seems to like her]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa men unconscious...]]
** King Robert Baratheon has spent years drinking, hunting, and whoring while being married to Cersei Lannister. He still can't get over the death of his beloved Lyanna Stark, her death left a hole in him which the seven realms couldn't even fill.

* In the first ''Series/RedDwarf'' novel, ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'', Lister's response to finding out that EverybodysDeadDave is a [[FreakOut spectacular mental breakdown]] complete with massive alcohol abuse. It is ''not'' played for laughs; in fact, it goes beyond this trope to look more like a [[InterruptedSuicide narrowly-averted]] attempt at suicide by alcohol.
* Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Literature/LittleFuzzy'' has a sad-whimsical description of the process:
-->''"Take a drink because you pity yourself, and then the drink pities you and has a drink, and then two good drinks get together and that calls for drinks all around."''

* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' series:
** Lytol drinks to unconsciousness whenever he is forcibly reminded of his dragon's death, as a way of easing the pain of the loss. This is considered better than the alternative; most riders who lose their dragons [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]].
** There's a small instance in the first book of the same series. F'lar assumed leadership of the weyr from previous Weyrleader R'gul. After Weyrwoman Lessa performs the huge event of the plot, R'gul insists that it's not possible and F'lar must be mad and privately prepares to resume leadership once F'lar's incapability is publicly known. When people show up who prove that it really did happen exactly the way the leaders said, "R'gul got very quietly drunk."
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', the demon Crowley once received a commendation from his superiors in Hell for starting the Spanish Inquisition. He didn't actually start it, he just happened to be in the area when it happened. When he finally started looking around to see what this Inquisition was all about, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he ended up]] [[HeroicBSOD spending most of his time afterward]] [[INeedAFreakingDrink drinking himself stupid]].
* Sydney Carton from ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' does this pretty much 24/7.
* Haymitch Abernathy of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has been doing this ever since he left the titular DeadlyGame as a teenager. Considering his only ally and friend in the arena was killed without him having even the slightest chance to save her and most of his family and friends were then killed to punish him for his almost nonexistent "rebellion", and his job ever since has been to accompany and train two kids a year for an almost certain death in the titular DeadlyGame, you can see why.
* ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': It's something of a tradition of Antonina's, when Belisarius goes away on a potentially hopeless mission against the Malwa, to get thoroughly trashed, accompanied by Irene.
* Several characters in ''Literature/CarrerasLegions'', including the main protagonist, sink to this, usually over having their hearts broken.

* In ''Literature/TimeScout'', Margo eventually realizes her father, though he's a bastard, may have developed his drinking problem as a result of her dead brother.
* In the ''Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries'' Fisk claims that he handled being dumped by his first crush "in the time-honored way" while telling the audience about a time Jack had come to scold him for being too sentimental and attached to people while he was drunk.
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''[[Literature/SpiralArm The January Dancer]]'', a common reason to be in the Bar on Jehovah.
* In ''[[Literature/PaladinOfShadows A Deeper Blue]]'', Mike does this at the start, unable to get over [[spoiler: Gretchen's]] death in ''Unto the Breach''.
* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', on the first days of his espionage mission when he was visiting South Africa, Hamilton wishes that he could get totally trashed over his cover job [[spoiler:of a child slave trader]], but can't afford the resultant loss of control in what's effectively "enemy territory".
* In Creator/DorothyGilman's ''Literature/TheClairvoyantCountess'', Mr. Faber-Jones, after his wife leaves him.
* In the ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'' series Christopher considers [[DrowningMySorrows getting drunk]] after [[ItMakesSenseInContext not being able to reach Millie.]] He's 15 at the time.
--->''"One could get awfully drunk here," Christopher remarked, surveying a dusty wall of bottles marked Nuits d’été 1848. "I have quite a mind to drown my sorrows, Grant. I saw [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Millie]]. I '''talked''' to her. Do you know how to open champagne?"''
* In ''Literature/{{Spin}}'', Carol Lawton spends most of the book perpetually wasted. Though one might assume that she drank primarily because of her loveless marriage to the overbearing [=E.D.=] Lawton, the real cause of her constant boozing is later revealed to be [[spoiler:her misery over the knowledge that her one true love, Tyler's mother, was utterly straight and devoted to her husband]].

* In ''Literature/TheManWhoCarriedTrouble'' Bill ends up in a bar, doing some hard drinking after a bad week.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Newsflesh}} Feed]]'', after he's told [[spoiler:that the outbreak on the family ranch resulting in the deaths of his daughter, his wife's parents, and about half their employees, was intentionally caused by someone injecting a horse with live Kellis-Amberlee and causing it to amplify into a chompy zombie]], Senator Ryman tells Shaun and Georgia he'll talk to them about the matter the next day, after he breaks the news to his wife and then, as he puts it, "get very, very drunk".
* The Hard Heart cantina on the ''Literature/DeathStar'' becomes this to a greater and greater extent as the plot progresses. Sometime after the [[EarthShatteringKaboom destruction of Alderaan]], the proprietor asks the bouncer to remove the few patrons who were having too much fun, and the remainder are quiet, shell-shocked.
--> It felt like a memorial service, and, in its own way, it was.
* In ''The Dragon's Path'', the first book in ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'', this is Cithrin's response to losing out on a key deal for her bank. She makes an earnest attempt to drink herself into oblivion.
* Frank Browning does this in the first book of the ''Literature/AhrimanTrilogy'' when he thinks he's failed again.
* Two examples in ''Literature/GreenAngel:'' The first is the titular Green, who drinks to numb her grief after the nearby city is blown up and her family is among the casualties. Later on, there's the Forgetting Shack, where numerous people drink themselves blind and dance to exhaustion due to suffering similar losses.
* ''Literature/OutOfTheDust'': Billie Jo's mother had been saving up money for a while. After [[spoiler:she becomes terribly burned and deformed due to an accident involving kerosene]], her husband takes the money and goes out to drink. This leaves Billie especially bitter because [[spoiler:she couldn't help her mother much in her condition. The burns on her hands prevented her from giving her mother water to drink, despite her mother's pleas]]. It takes a while for her to forgive her dad.
* Hazel in ''Literature/BigBlonde'' takes to alcohol in order to deal with her sadness and her bad marriage. She quickly becomes an [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]].
* Dayless the Conqueror in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror.'' Despite his incredible power and success, he was [[BeingEvilSucks profoundly unhappy as an emperor]] due to him [[TheSociopath separating himself from his passions and morality]]. Downing large quantities of fine wine was the first, but [[SexForSolace definitely not the last]], tactic he used to stave off his sorrow.
* ''Literature/ABoyMadeOfBlocks'': When Alex tells Dan that [[spoiler:he's been laid off]], Dan says, "Put the controller down. We are going out and we are getting shit-faced."
* In ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'', the monk Rastov drinks heavily to dull his awareness of all the suffering in the world that he is unable to prevent. After his death, his {{familiar}} Quicklime goes on a several-days-long bender, using fermented windfall fruit as his source of alcohol.

* ''Literature/EvidenceOfThingsNotSeen'': When Tara's mom learns that [[spoiler:her husband was a drug dealer murdered by a seventeen-year-old prostitute he was having an affair with]], she goes straight to her room with a bottle of wine and drinks until she passes out.
* Vanessa from ''Literature/MyDarkVanessa'' relies on alcohol, cigarettes, and sometimes Ativan to get through the day.
* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': After needing to break to her family the news that [[spoiler:she only has a year left to live]], Myne wakes up in the middle of the night and notices her father drinking alone in the kitchen.
* ''Literature/JustJuliet'': Juliet tried to do this with alcohol and drugs after losing her mother as a young teen.
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': Qwill, prior to the start of the series, although he has sworn off alcohol by the time the first book begins.
* ''[[Literature/TheCaseFilesOfIbrahimHelsing The Miskatonic Affair]]'': A very depressed Cassandra does this with a bottle of red wine over [[spoiler:the thinking of how the world will come to an end if the villains succeed in their plans to bring about the apocalypse with the Necronomicon]].

* ''Series/YediYuz'': Aylin tasks her husband Bülent to hit the bar with Metin in "Biyolojik Saat", hoping it will distract him from his breakup with Gökçe. It doesn't go as expected, as Metin CantHoldHisLiquor and spends the early hours of the morning vomiting profusely.

** Desmond, especially when he realized he couldn't [[spoiler:escape the island and returned in this state in the season 2 finale. Plus his time travelling woes led him to the bottle too (although Charlie and Hurley were exploiting him a bit)]].

** In the season 9 finale, after [[spoiler:bringing Dean's dead body back from the fight with Metatron]], Sam hits the scotch.

* Act II of ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'' opens with [[TheAlcoholic Raoul]] getting sloshed in a seedy bar on Coney Island, lamenting his losing Christine to [[DracoInLeatherPants the Phantom.]] Meg comes on after his big solo to {{lampshade}} it (and provide a bit of {{foreshadowing}}.

* In ''Theater/MerrilyWeRollAlong'', Mary Flynn, who previously didn't drink at all, takes a hearty swig from a champagne bottle after Frank chooses to wait for a call from Gussie rather than come with her and Charley. For the rest of the show (chronologically), she is either [[TheAlcoholic wasted or getting there.]]
-->'''Ru:''' So, what do you do?\\
'''Mary:''' I drink.\\
'''Ru:''' No, what do you really do?\\
'''Mary:''' I ''really'' drink.
* In the 1940 Music/ColePorter musical ''Panama Hattie'', Creator/EthelMerman's title character had the song "Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please."

* In ''Theatre/TheSpongeBobMusical'', Mrs. Puff decides to do "all the living I ''should'' have done before!" in the hours leading up to the eruption of Mt. Humongous, and spends much of the show [[DrunkOnMilk getting hammered on kelp juice]].

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', Demetheus accidentally killed a friend during a fight, and then proceeded to go on such an ''epic'' sorrow-drowning bender that the Goddess of Intoxicants herself, Burning Feather, came down from Yu-Shan to sober him up.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** Gorman in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' does this with milk, and somehow [[DrunkOnMilk ends up drunk anyway]], even though [[LampshadeHanging he himself states this is impossible]].
** Played straight by an NPC in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''. After you complete his quest and leave his house, you can come back and find him missing. He's gone to the local tavern and is seated at the bar, crying his eyes out because his girlfriend is seeing someone else.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', a [[OneGenderRace Gerudo]] woman named Deltan is depicted drinking several bottles of alcohol at a bar in Gerudo Town and sobbing over various romantic rejections by men.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' has Carla drinking at the microbrewery on Jambalaya Island to forget her time on Monkey Island. Unfortunately, Guybrush inadvertently reminds her of what she was drinking to forget, and she complains "Thanksh a load, Threepwood. Now I gotta shtart all over again."
-->'''Guybrush:''' Drinking isn't the answer, Carla."\\
'''Carla:''' That depends on the question, doeshn't it?
* ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'': Halfway into the game, [[ColonelBadass Col.]] [[PlayerCharacter Blair]] drowns his sorrows [[spoiler:after discovering Angel's fate]]. After the cutscene showing [[spoiler:her fate]], you're given a choice of talking with [[WrenchWench Rachel]] or drinking some more. Unless one is a masochist, talking is probably better than drinking. Especially because [[spoiler:of the scramble alert following shortly thereafter. Alcohol and spacecraft do not mix, and flying drunk will [[InterfaceScrew make your ship behave erratically.]]]]

* Happens in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', where Cid is originally drinking heavily after the death of his wife. In the [[{{Bowdlerize}} American translation]], he merely has trouble keeping a job.
* The Demoman in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is characterized this way. His melee weapon is the very bottle he draws his "comfort" from, and his taunt for said weapon features him shouting "Cheers, mate!" and taking a hearty swig. A good number of his in-game lines either sound completely drunk or reference his being so ("I'm drunk - you don't have an excuse!", "Imagine if I ''hadn't'' been drunk!", etc.). His "Meet the Team" video features the strongest example of this trope, with him going from sober to somewhat wasted by the end and bemoaning the fact that he is "a black Scottish cyclops".
--> "They got more [[ClusterBleepBomb *BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*]]s than they got the likes o' me!"
** A taunt added in a late 2016 patch, called the "Scotsmann's Stagger", has the Demoman continuously drinking from a bottle while tipsily walking forwards and letting out drunken in-game lines with every few steps.

* This seems to be the source of Oghren's alcoholism in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. He got on the sauce after his wife left him and he was restricted from ever carrying a weapon while in the city or fighting in the Deep Roads. Other dwarves openly mock him for it. Constantly.
* Hinted at with Fenris in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Hawke can find him drunk on the anniversary of his escape, which could also be the same day [[spoiler: the people who helped him were killed by his hands.]] Oddly, though, he's more cheerful drunk than he normally is.
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': After the murder of her daughter, Sallie Graham starts spending a lot of time getting drunk at the SWERY '65 bar.
* More or less [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything speculative]], but...in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', when Garnet resigns herself to becoming TheHighQueen, Zidane is found by their friends in a bar sulking about the possibility of his and Garnet now becoming more distant regarding their relationship. The way Zidane speaks throughout the whole scene certainly seems like he was in a drunken stupor, but...

* After [[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Starkiller]] defeats him at the TIE fighter construction facility above Nar Shaddaa, Rahm Kota is found in a bar in Bespin.
* Deego in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'' is first found drowning his sorrows after a combat mission went badly wrong.
* Cass, one of your possible companions in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is found doing this in a crappy military bar after her caravans have (suspiciously) been vaporized. She's still TheAlcoholic after she joins your party but at least she isn't depressed.
* Taro Namatame from {{Videogame/Persona 4}} is shown drinking after the death of his mistress. [[spoiler:His mental state during said moment might be a contributing factor for how he was easily manipulated by Adachi into throwing people into the TV]].

* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', Connor recruits an old ship captain by the name of Robert Faulkner, who fell into drunkenness after his ship, the Aquila, was decommissioned and he lost his purpose. He leaps at the chance to sail her again for the Assassins and by all appearances remains sober afterward, or at least as sober as any other sailor.
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', Jack Marston implies that he has become a heavy drinker [[spoiler:to cope with the death of his family]]
* In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' this is implied to be the reason behind Karen's heavy drinking. She comes from a rather broken family, with a somewhat abusive father and a depressed mother, and has her fair share of angst.
* In ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', [[BookEnds Conker ends up back at the bar where his adventure began]] [[spoiler:to drown out the pain of his girlfriend Berri's death which was exacerbated by being forced to take the Panther King's throne.]] On a more humorous note, the Grim Reaper can also be seen getting smashed after he has spent the game dealing with Conker and his extra lives.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': In the cinematic for ''Mists of Pandaria'', a shipwrecked Orc and human are forced to fight together against Chen Stormstout, who sweeps the floor with them. In an "outtake" released much later, they go to a tavern to get some drink, still not quite sure what happened.
-->'''Human:''' So... it was a bear?\\
'''Orc:''' In a hat! ''[passes out]''
* By the third ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' game, Max has become a raging alcoholic alongside his painkiller addiction.
* In ''VideoGame/PretentiousGame 3'', this is how the gray square copes with his guilt over the fact that his affair with the bright pink square led to the light pink square divorcing him.
* In ''Videogame/DarkestDungeon'' one of the ways the characters can relieve the stress of braving horrifying dungeons full of horrifying monsters is by getting tanked at the local tavern. If you're unlucky, said characters might get the [[TheTeetotaler Resolution quirk]] after a bad night of drinking so they can't relieve stress in a tavern, or get the [[TheAlcoholic Tippler quirk]] after gaining a dependency on alcohol meaning they can ''only'' relieve stress in a tavern. If you're ''really'' unlucky, the character might end up with ''both'' quirks meaning they can't relieve stress in town at all.
* In ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'', it is mentioned that Sebastian Castellanos started drinking heavily [[spoiler:after his daughter died in a fire implied to not have been an accident.]]

* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', Not too long after the fall of XCOM, the once upstanding Central Officer Bradford had picked up some alcoholic tendencies during his time of despair before he went on to save the Commander and start the XCOM uprising.
* It turns out that [[TheRedBaron The Bloody Baron]] from ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' became TheAlcoholic he is due to also being a ShellShockedVeteran.
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', Piers gets washed away from his homeland by a tidal wave, followed by his mother dying from a heart attack. When you finally bring Piers back to his uncle's house, you find said uncle [[https://lparchive.org/Golden-Sun/Update%2039/10-goldsun-723.png surrounded by spilled bottles]].

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', if Gray and his crush Clair survive but his best friend Tobin does not, Gray crosses the DespairEventHorizon and falls into this. The remake, ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', is more merciful: he gets drunkenly depressed too, but Clair manages to help him recover and they marry, [[DeadGuyJunior naming their firstborn son after Tobin]].

* Jack [=McClendon=], from the ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' DLC ''Minerva's Den'', turned to drink after an ill-advised contract to make robotic Little Sisters left him with nothing but a huge R&D bill and a massive amount of unsold inventory. He is clearly wasted in the audio diary you find in his office, along with what appears to be his corpse, implying he drank himself to death.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts 2}}'', Raz discovers that Bob Zanotto, Lili's great-uncle and one of the founding members of the Psychonauts, has turned to drinking to deal with all the trauma in his life (from the death of his mother to the battle against Maligula to the apparent demise of his lover/husband Helmut Fullbear).

* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' when Catra finds Shadow Weaver holding a goblet and slurring slightly [[spoiler: after Adora [[CallingTheOldManOut calls her out]] for her lifelong mistreatment of herself and Catra, tells her she'll never let her get the power she seeks, and then goes to quite possibly die.]]

* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' one of Negi's fellow teachers [[UnsuspectinglySoused accidentally gave him some sake]] while eating in Satsuki's restaurant. The scene quickly degenerated into this trope as a drunken Negi [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/mahou_sensei_negima/v09/c073/14.html cried out his troubles]].

'''[[ComicBook/{{LegionOfSuper-Heroes}} Brainiac 5]]:''' Are you kidding? I drink to forget you.

In ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'', Yasui, one of Rei's opponents, is known to become a violent drunk whenever he loses a shogi match.

* Boris aka “Daddy” from ‘’WebAnimation/CaillouTheGrownup’’ has taken to drinking because he’s depressed that he has to put up with his son Caillou who became a PsychopathicManChild that makes his life a living hell.

* ''Manga/DetectiveConan'':
** Kogoro Mouri is an AlcoholicParent, but he's rarely seen straight-up invoking the trope. It does happen once in a while, however, especially when he's got cases [[ItsPersonal that personally trouble him]]; he does so in a {{filler}} case where it looks like [[spoiler: the sweet girl he once was a tutor for [[BrokenPedestal has become a murderer]] ]] and that sends him into a depressive fit. [[spoiler: For worse, he's right ''and'' the poor girl's reasons [[FinancialAbuse are very dramatic]].]]
** PlayedForLaughs in a White Day-related case, where [[spoiler: Inspector Megure]]'s wife Midori gets toasted when it looks like her husband has forgotten to get her a gift. [[spoiler: He ''did,'' he just forgot to tell her.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{RWBY}}''/''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13324935/1/RWBY-Aqua-s-Mission RWBY: Aqua's Mission]], it is revealed that Taiyang Xiao Long has taken to alcohol in an attempt to cope with Summer Rose's death. [[spoiler:{{Deconstructed}} in chapter 8, when the group was going to visit Summer's grave on her second birthday after her death, only for Taiyang to have a nervous breakdown and drink a lethal amount of alcohol. It was only due to Aqua restarting his heart with a Thundaga spell that he didn't die.]]