What is often seen as a negative statement is the acknowledgment of the troubling condition. This is the starting point, we cannot resolve issues unless we acknowledge them.
There can also be a lot of 'play' around this which serves to explore other aspects around the issue, but also to realize the full depth of the feelings around it, e.g. are you upset, angry or enraged? Social conditioning tends to suppress awareness of how deep feelings can go.

At the same time this 'negative' acknowledgment has a positive kernel. It lets one discover things about oneself and it implies that there is an intention to resolve it. Why else would one do EFT?

One could say that the seemingly negative is in fact positive.