Estonian mental health nurse: alcohol is seen as normal part of daily life

Mental health nurse Andra Õismaa said on the ETV programme "Terevisioon" that people in Estonia view alcohol as a routine part of daily life, which often leads them to underestimate how much they drink and how frequently.

According to her, people tend to downplay the amount of alcohol they consume, often unconsciously, because deep down they sense it isn't particularly healthy — so they prefer not to know the exact figure. Õismaa explained that alcohol is part of Estonian culture: a legal psychoactive substance with only limited restrictions on access. For instance, alcohol sales are permitted from 10 a.m., and there are age restrictions, but it remains legally available from age 18, is found everywhere and constantly visible. Society has grown used to treating alcohol as an inseparable part of any celebration or event.

Addiction is a disease, not a willpower issue

The nurse emphasized that alcohol dependence is a serious illness. While addiction used to be seen as a sign of weak will, with the assumption that a person simply needed to "pull themselves together," it is now understood as a brain disease — the brain functions differently once addiction sets in, and the changes that have occurred are not always fully reversible, though the process can be stopped or slowed.

Õismaa added that alcohol problems often surface by chance, when people seek help for entirely different complaints. If a person genuinely wants to overcome their addiction, the first step is to establish what exactly they drink, how much, for how long, and what it is connected to, as well as identifying the situations that trigger the urge to drink — for example, during lunch, while cooking, or as an attempt to numb anxiety and stress that is otherwise hard to manage.

She noted that regular consumption can also stem from simple everyday habits — such as feeling an urge to grab something upon opening the fridge, or seeing a large alcohol shelf while shopping at a store.