"work it out for yourself" is an excellent thing to say to another pilot, when you know that things are still well within your capability to recover, so you don't need to - yet. I have done this many times.
The parallel for a non pilot, is "you're doing fine, just a little more...". I have had non pilots land the plane quite nicely a few times while coaching them through. They were neatly on the surface before they realized that they should be scared, 'cause they are about to land. This works much better on a frozen lake, with miles of landing surface in all directions though, and with me minding the throttle to actually control the rate of sink!
I've never had a problem with this.
My only problem ever was with a passenger to whom I had never intended to give control. He was mentally disadvantaged, and decided to take control, with great force. It was a sudden go around, with near aerobatics to climb away. I was quite concerned about damaging the flight control mechanism, while over powering him. It worked out okay, though this is why there are only dual controls in either of my planes, when I actually intend that the other person might fly.