[adrianbd]

As some other comments touch on, what this could be framed as is "Ruinous Empathy", which is what Kim Scott calls it in Radical Candor: https://www.radicalcandor.com/radical-candor-not-brutal-hone....

The crux of it is that it's more useful to give someone a harsh truth that will help them grow (in a tactful way, while conveying that you care about them personally) rather than trying to be nice but ultimately not helping them course correct.

[drugstorecowboy]

When people are so generously out there "helping people grow" in tactful ways, much of the time the benevolent helper doesn't actually know how to do that.

People generally make what they think are rational decisions, it always feels like extreme hubris when someone decides that they know what would be best for someone else. They can't possibly know what reasoning lead to their current course of action. Thats what makes toxic positivity toxic, its people deciding that whatever lead you to have less than a cheerleader level of positivity is irrelevant, your thoughts on the matter are irrelevant, because they know how you should feel about something and want to help you "course correct"

[adrianbd]

Just to be clear, my comment is talking about toxic positivity in the workplace (I intended to anchor my reply to another related comment) - I agree that toxic positivity regarding other people's more general problems will just minimize their decisions and experiences.

At work however, I've definitely been helped by being given direct advice on things I hadn't even been considering I could be doing better (or doing at all, as a matter of fact). Your take implies a lack of trust in the motive of the other party, which is obviously a deal breaker, and the reason why establishing trust in the first place is required.