History Main / DescentIntoAddiction

* An early story arc in ''Series/BreakingBad'' featured Jesse (already a habitual user of crystal meth and weed) being introduced to heroin by his girlfriend Jane and slowly becoming addicted. [[spoiler:After Jane fatally overdoses]], Walt sends Jesse to a rehab facility and he remains clean for most of the rest of the series.
* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode "[[Recap/BlackMirrorBlackMuseum Black Museum]]". One {{vignette|Episode}} tells of a doctor and a hairnet device. The device allows the doctor to feel other patient's pain upon touching them. After a patient dies under his examination, he becomes obsessed with the sensation he experienced. He begins wearing it during sex, and as a result receives sexual pleasure when using the device at work. Overtime, he craves deeper and more exhilarating sensations. He resorts to self-harm, and it eventually goes so far that he murders someone.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In "Ripper", the former Harley Street surgeon Dr. Jack York became addicted to absinthe and opium after his misdiagnosis resulted in the death of the young daughter of a duke.

* ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'': "The Fever" has a man become addicted to gambling on a Las Vegas vacation with his wife after imagining that he can hear the slot machine calling him to play. After losing all of his money, he hallucinates ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane or does he?]]) that the slot machine is chasing him down and crashes through a window to his death.

* ''Film/RequiemForADream'' chronicles the descent of four characters into drug addiction (three of them to heroin, one to prescribed weight-loss amphetamines). Director Creator/DarrenAronofsky stated that he was attempting to explore the parallels between different types of addiction in the film:

* In his ''Literature/{{Confessions}}'', Augustine plays off addiction narratives in an incident where he meets a drunken man and makes the case said man's addiction to drink is more enviable than was young Augustine's growing addiction to fame and honor.

* An episode of ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' sees Penny, curious as to what the guys find so absorbing in computer games, dabbling in an online fantasy adventure and progressively getting so hooked that she gives up on things like eating, sleeping and personal grooming. The thing that makes her go cold turkey is when she realises she is seriously considering virtual sex between her avatar and one controlled by Howard Wolowitz.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* Sato from ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' has addictive tendencies as a result of a lack of real-life obligations due to his {{hikikomori}} lifestyle. Once, he receives a copy of an MMORPG to play. Once he starts playing, he becomes hooked, refusing to leave the house, bathe, or even eat for several days. Earlier on in the story, his friend lends him porn as "reference material" for the hentai video game they were working on together. He gets so hooked on Internet porn that he downloads ''120 gigabytes worth of photos'' and bricks his computer deleting system files by mistake in an attempt to make more room.
[[/folder]]

* PlayedForLaughs in a ''Series/BlackMirror'' episode, one story tells of a doctor and a hairnet device. The device allows the doctor to feel other patient's pain upon touching them. After a patient dies under his examination, he becomes obsessed with the sensation he experienced. He begins wearing it during sex, and as a result receives sexual pleasure when using the device at work. Overtime, he craves deeper and more exhilarating sensations. He resorts to self harm, and it eventually goes so far that he murders someone.

* ''Webcomic/EightCicadas'' starts with a flash-forward to Annette as an alcoholic, though her story proper starts with her as a young social drinker. Shark, her nephew, also descends from sobriety to violence and alcoholism before his death.

* ''[https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turmiolan_Tommi Turmiolan Tommi]'' (Tommy of Destitution), a Finnish anti-alcohol propaganda book, which described Tommi's descent from a responsible father into a prisoner because of alcohol. This book has been used as a case study for a Type 2 alcoholic (violent binge-drinker).

* ''Turmiolan Tommi'' (Tommy of Destitution), a Finnish anti-alcohol propaganda book, which described Tommi's descent from a responsible father into a prisoner because of alcohol. This book has been used as a case study for a Type 2 alcoholic (violent binge-drinker).

* ''[[Film/{{Amy 2015}} Amy]]'' tells the tragic RealLife story of Music/AmyWinehouse, whose descent into alcoholism and other drug addictions eventually leads to her death at the age of 27.

* ''Literature/AScannerDarkly'' — like the [[Film/AScannerDarkly movie]] adapted from it — depicts undercover cop Bob Arctor growing addicted to the scary fictional drug Substance D [[BecomingTheMask as part of his cover]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The primary plotline in the Wakefield story in ''Film/{{Traffic}}'' centres on Bob Wakefield's daughter Caroline, who develops an addiction to heroin after being introduced to it by her boyfriend. Her parents put her in rehab, but she escapes and resorts to theft and prostitution to fund her habit. At the end of the film, she's back in rehab and seems more committed to recovering.

* Several Smurfs in ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "Lure Of The Orb" eventually show signs that Allura's magic orb was taking its toll on them, including them stealing, lying, and becoming too weak to fight the temptation for more.

* The ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' fanfics ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11974309/1/I-shouldn-t-be-alive-Unless-it-was-for-a-reason I shouldn't be alive, Unless it was for a reason]]'' and ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12052733/1/Gone-Cold-Turkey Gone Cold Turkey]]'' portrays Mitsuzane's slow descent into heavy drinking, [[spoiler:albeit underage]]. The factor of Micchy drinking himself to death with (as much guilt) is he can cope with the deaths of Kouta and Mai, to the point that his health deteriorates even further. It gets even UpToEleven with the latter fic where Micchy's binge drinking ''began'' affecting his health. In the end of both fics, he begins recovering with Takatora's help.