in the grip of

in the grip of

1. overwhelmed or controlled by something adverse

   I couldn't enjoy life while I was in the grip of drug abuse.

   • 1950 January, “Notes and News: George Bradshaw's Grave”, in Railway Magazine, pages 61–62:

     At that time, the city [Christiania, now Oslo] was in the grip of a cholera epidemic, and victims were dying at the rate of 60 a day. Bradshaw contracted the disease, and died on September 6 [1853].