“What is depression?” Ways of coping with English Easy Read language in mental-health-related texts

The article explores two British mental-health related websites, it compares them with similar Italian websites and pinpoints the main usability features of both. Then, it performs a thorough textual and linguistic analysis of two Easy Read (ER) leaflets on depression, a serious mental condition that is known to affect mainly women, issued respectively by a UK charity (Easy Health) and a local national body (the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust). Results show that although ER can be interpreted and implemented differently – yet equally effectively, there are some textual, linguistic and organizational parameters that should always be implemented to ensure the (high) usability of texts meant for people with intellectual disabilities, but also for nonexperts or even patients with mental health disorder whose processing abilities might be compromised.