zinco, that's a great definition and for me it definitely fits. I also agree with shy introvert about the anxiety piece and you say yourself that you are self medicating for this reason. I have found that taking an antianxiety med has helped immensely. I take 300 mg gabapentin 3 times a day (every 4 hours). Once I started getting used to the side effect of it making me sleepy, which has since gone away, I find it to be very helpful with social anxiety and it is supposedly non addicting. There are several options for antianxiety meds that are non addicting. Good luck.