I was once told in my Counseling class that you should never tell your client that you “know” how they feel. That you should instead say that you understand, and then guide them through to the best of your ability, so that they can better understand their own feelings and navigate similar stress in the future.
And I understand the place that my teacher was coming from when he said to never say you “know” what they’re feeling -- I know he meant that you can’t ever actually know exactly what they’re feeling, and telling them that you do is oftentimes frustrating to them and almost always disingenuous.
But, from the perspective of someone who has been to (and needs more) therapy, someone who is suffering a lot of the time... You get tired of hearing “I understand that feeling, let’s see if we can work through it together.”
Sometimes, all you want is someone to say, “I know. I know how you feel. It’s okay. I know.” Sometimes that’s the most comforting thing you can hear.
Sometimes that’s what it actually takes for you to be able to move past the feeling, even if they don’t actually know how you feel, even if you know they don’t.