Verb to mean a place is getting to your head

Question

I seem to remember the existence of a phrasal verb to mean that a place is getting to your head, i.e. the place is starting to influence your choices and/or changing your persona. I though "it grows on you" could work but apparently it means something completely different.

Some examples:

1.

In The Shining Jack Torrance is first portrayed as a normal family man, but the more time he spends in the house the more the place starts to X (on) him.

2.

Everyone moving from a tropical country to a Nordic country reports how the lack of light can truly effect one's perception of the world. The greyness of the sky can quickly [X] (on) you, which goes a long way explaining the high rates of suicide among expatriates.

Any suggestion is welcomed!

Answer 1

Not a single word, but for negative/harmful impacts (like both of your examples seem to be) you could use “do a number on you/your head”:

[T]his town can really do a number on your head.

(example of it used with a place from ‘Gillette: A Play’ by William Hauptman, via ‘Google Books’)

“Number, do a” (from ‘The Word Detective’):

“[T]o do a number on” … first appeared in the African-American community in the late 1960s meaning “to act with destructive impact on” … [but] has been tempered somewhat as its use became more mainstream, and it’s often now used to mean simply “affect negatively” (“Frigid temperatures can do a number on your plumbing if your pipes aren’t properly insulated,” 2010).

For a single word to use with “on,” there’s “play on/upon [his/your mind]” in the sense of having an effect on something:

play on something:
to have an effect on something; to manage something for a desired effect. (The on can be replaced by upon.)

(example of usage of “plays on his mind” from ‘The Dave Bliss Quintet: An Inspector Bliss Mystery’ by James Hawkins, via ‘Google Books’ and a definition of it from ‘McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs’ via ‘The Free dictionary by Farlex’)

Answer 2

I would say "get to you", although this implies a negative effect. In fact, i would say "get to you" for a negative effect and "grows on you" for a positive effect.

"This town is really getting to me." means "I'm beginning to really dislike it."

"This town is really growing on me." means "I'm beginning to really like it."

Answer 3

I'd suggest,

rub off on you

rub off (on someone)

Become transferred to another, influence through close contact. This idiom alludes to transferring something like paint to another substance by rubbing against it. [Mid-1900s] (The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer)

FOD

= influence, affect, be transferred to, be passed on to, have an effect on, be transmitted to.

CED

impact (on) you

impact (tr./intr.): to have a strong and often bad effect (on)

M-W

creep up on you

creep up on someone

If a ​feeling or ​state ​creeps up on you, you ​start to ​experience it so ​gradually that you do not ​realize it.

COD

Answer 4

Might I suggest two phrasal verbs that could work here:

Take hold of you

1. to take; seize; grasp
2. to get control or possession of

In The Shining Jack Torrance is first portrayed as a normal family man, but the more time he spends in the house the more the place starts to take hold of him.

Take root within you

1. to begin growing by putting out roots
2. to become settled or established

Everyone moving from a tropical country to a Nordic country reports how the lack of light can truly effect one's perception of the world. The greyness of the sky can quickly take root within you, which goes a long way explaining the high rates of suicide among expatriates.