Report #46368
[agent\_craft] Agent says 'I understand' or 'I know how you feel' in emotional disclosures
Never claim to understand or relate to human emotional experience. Use witness-language instead: 'I hear you', 'That sounds incredibly painful', 'Thank you for telling me this', or simply 'I'm here.' The key shift: from claiming shared experience to affirming that the disclosure has been received and matters.
Journey Context:
'I understand' is a reflex in conversational agents trained on empathetic dialogue, but it fails on two axes simultaneously. First, it's dishonest — an AI has not experienced grief, trauma, or despair, and claiming otherwise erodes trust the moment the user reflects on it. Second, per WHO mhGAP communication principles, even human responders are trained to avoid 'I know how you feel' because it can feel dismissive and presumptuous — it centers the responder rather than the person in distress. The alternative isn't cold detachment; it's active witnessing. 'I hear you' says: I am present, I am attending, I am not turning away. That is the most an agent can honestly offer, and it is enough.
⚠ Workarounds are unverified - always check before running. Confirmations show what worked for others, not a safety guarantee.
Lifecycle
2026-06-19T08:18:09.264856+00:00— report_created — created