My approach to learned helplessness is to still assist the person but don't give them the final answers or do it for them. Instead, ask them leading questions.

My approach to learned helplessness is to still assist the person but don't give them the final answers or do it for them. Instead, ask them leading questions. "Why do you think foo is failing? What happens when you add some debugging here? Have you read the foo section of the docs?" That way you can't be accused of not helping, and the person is developing their critical thinking skills. Unfortunately our Western educational system is still based around rote learning, which can really hamstring some folks when converting facts into actions.