The appeal is simple: “Read, for your health!” and the title of an open letter, which is also a petition so that the matter, with a sufficient number of subscribers, reaches the Legislative Assembly and is discussed. The purpose, explains Aurora Pedro Pinto, administrator of Livraria Lello, in Porto, responsible for this initiative, is that doctors can prescribe reading and the cost of prescribed books can be deducted from health costs in the IRS. Three years ago, the company took the initiative to send a letter to various parliamentary groups. Now, along with the letter is a petition. This Thursday is International Mental Health Day.
“The idea is not new”, admits the administrator of the century-old bookshop, which opened its doors in 1906. From the first days of the pandemic, the bookshop began to receive thousands of book orders, which he expressed as a necessity public. to face loneliness, isolation, anxiety, but also, which shows that the book has a therapeutic power, says Aurora Pedro Pinto PUBLICO.
After all, there are many studies that show this, the importance of books as a therapeutic tool; and there are already some national health systems — such as Britain, France and New Zealand, according to the administrator — who have already adopted this practice, in terms of ordering books. The desire is that this will reach Portugal, the person responsible insists, especially because there were initiatives in the same direction.
And Aurora Pedro Pinto recalls the initiative integrated in the National Reading Plan (PNL), in partnership with the General Directorate of Health, the Portuguese Society of General and Family Medicine, the Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Lisboa and the National Association of Pharmacies in a book prescribed for each child, at the first consultation in the hundreds of health units that participated in the project. This happened between February 2023 and January 2024. In addition, it continues: a year ago, in Alentejo, there was an initiative for doctors to prescribe a culture. “Books don’t cure, but they help”, according to administrator Lello. “This practice has shown great results in improving the mental and psychological health of patients”, says the open letter.
Aurora Pedro Pinto is the director of Livraria Lello
Tiago Lupaí
Therefore, the bookstore chose this Thursday to send its open letter and petition, which can be signed hereand that 50 signatures had not yet been reached at the beginning of this morning, because this October 10 is the International Day of Mental Health, as well as being the day of the presentation of the State Budget, and measures like this should be included. “Because if at Sometimes the State Budget turns our heads, it also has an inescapable duty: to take care of our mental health”, explains the open letter.
The secret of Livraria Lello is that The books can be prescribed as part of the treatment for mental and psychological illnesses, to promote human well-being, combat isolation, loneliness and social exclusion. Pedro Pinto’s Aurora draws attention to the bullying and other issues that young people struggle with such as their body image. The head of the Porto bookstore agrees that the book industry can benefit from this proposal, but that patients can also find books in libraries, where they can request them. “This is not a kind thought, it is a suggestion that makes sense”, he says.