In this sentence "bent out of shape" seems to mean drunk. The phrase "bent out of shape" also means to get angry. Example: "I failed my math test yesterday. I'm still bent out of shape about it!" In the sentence "you had to find a poison to……image was terrifying." the word "poison" means a type of alcohol. In America, some bartenders will say "pick your poison." which is a way of asking "what alcoholic drink do you want?" So it seems like what the author is saying is someone had to get drunk before being able to function. I hope that helped!