middlepath, if I may summarize your thread:

- there is paranoia
- there is a danger of a self-fulfilling prophecy

Paranoia makes you think that people do not like you whereas that is not true.

Your demeanor, manner of speech, posture, and the rest are negatively affected by the low mood and cause people to stay away, which does not mean that they dislike you - maybe, as Hooligan pointed out, they simply do not know what to say. But their backing off is real. It is not your perception - it is real.

Then your realistic perception feeds into your unrealistic paranoia, the paranoia intensifies the depression and your facial expression might change, sending signals that people around you should continue to stay away.

Then a vicious circle and a self-fulling prophecy - the whole nine yards.