To begin with, you know, I’d sort of, I was...probably crying nearly every day erm but by the end of the program erm I’d feel sad but I wasn’t as tearful. So that was a sort of definite physical marker, you know, a tangible marker that something was different”

Users were open to a new experience. They were willing to give things a go, despite uncertainty as to the process or the outcome. They seemed to be curious by nature, intrigued by the programme and their own process.

“I have irritable bowel syndrome and I was aware that it was a bit better…And then I definitely started sleeping better…longer.”

Users’ reported that their experience of the programme appeared to share many similarities with the process of face to face therapy both in terms of the course of therapy (establishing, developing, maintaining and ending a “relationship”), the benefits (e.g. validation, support, encouragement). Users appreciated the level of personalization in Blues Begone and found that it made engagement and use that much easier.

"And the fact that the talking heads looked so real erm…and sounded real and always talked good sense, you know I wasn’t able to sort of…erm sort of trip them up if you know what I mean. I felt that everything they were saying made sense … I came to trust it, the programme"

"Erm I think it felt a bit, it felt more real than other software like if you’re using Microsoft word, cos of the people and the characters and it’s much more interactive because of that. So it’s kind of a bit more alive"

"It was strange but definitely there. If you compared it to a human being being in front of you…I mean in a way it took out some of the problems of communication with a human being. Erm ….but I did find it, it felt…I had er the sound turned up loud and so I didn’t have to worry about what they were thinking"

"Social interaction is a great antidote for depression and that these slightly amusing disembodied heads, which really were like animated cartoons erm but you pay, well I paid attention to listen to them"

"When it was over I can remember now erm that sort of feeling kind of sorry it had ended…it’s a bit like a mini-relationship (laughs) and that you sort of …you’re, you know it’s going to end and you look forward to the ending of it cos it’s an inconvenience to you and then when it has ended you actually realise that it’s a bit of…it’s loss"!