My position is that giving bad advice is bad, giving unsolicited advice is usually bad, and that "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so"

My position is that giving bad advice is bad, giving unsolicited advice is usually bad, and that "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so", which is to say that - when something painful happens, we suffer doubly by assigning a bunch of meaning to it and worrying about it. Even though telling an individual who is catastrophizing to stop catastrophizing usually won't help them stop (and will often damage relationships), it is nevertheless the case that they'll be better off if they stop catastrophizing. I took the time to write this here because it struck me that the people who would identify with this comic might benefit from the concept, and in a small way, hope that they can apply it to their lives to suffer a little bit less. Better than giving unsolicited advice is gently sharing mental models that you think might serve a person better, and letting them make the choice to adopt them (or not).