vulcan30

First of all thanks for the replies. It's good to see some have similar behaviours, so I'm not alone. Some are clearly much worse than me. The important point is,

Anyway, regarding social isolation
The truth is, you don't know if that true of my situation. That's a jump to a conclusion. It's best not to jump to conclusions and make judgements, instead try to find out more about the situation. When I say 'forced isolation' I mean I'm increasingly without people to hang out wit, due to the factors outside of my control (such as them getting tied down with work, moving away), and the fact that there's nowhere to go in the evenings to drop into on my own (and partly being too much of a chicken). The same structural changes that happens to everyone as they get older.
That 'putting me in that position' bit does sound quite accusatory, critical and judgemental. In what way is this is helpful? Or is it? The important thing is that, that sort of tone does not put people int he headspace to start opening-up about their situation, that sort of tone is what puts people on the defensive. Accusing people who bring-up their feelings of isolation of having a 'victim mentality' is not good practice, it's not a good listening skill. When people talk about their loneliness, the best thing to do is relate as nest you can, try to find out a bit more and for heavens sake, don't make judgements or use accusatory language. You'll find people in similar positions to me will react far more warmly if you do that.