Drown one’s sorrows
When people drown their sorrows, they drink lots of alcohol in an attempt to forget their pain. When Joseph’s girl-friend told him she no longer wished to see him, he spent all his evenings trying to drown his sorrows in whisky.
“You’ll ruin your health,” his friends advised him. “There are other ways to drown your sorrows. You could take up something new, go out more often, help someone in need.”
Joseph merely took another swallow.