Everyone feels this need for companionship. It is natural.

It becomes problematic when you begin to compromise yourself for the sake of keeping a relationship going BECAUSE you fear being alone. A good example would be staying with someone who abuses you in some way, or continuing to stay with someone because you are "comfortable" and are afraid to begin anew even though you know it should end.

Co-dependency is a symptom that manifests itself in many mental illnesses as well. To me, this behaviour makes perfect sense to have, for having a mental illness is very frightening. And no one likes to be alone when they are afraid.

The most important thing to do is to continually evaluate your friendships with people. Are you friends with someone JUST BECAUSE they like you (this is a big one for me - alot of my friendships were based on no more than this simple fact)? What makes a particular relationship with someone special? Every relationship you have is special. The question you must ask yourself is if the "specialness" of a certain relationship is based on nothing more than to alleviate your feelings of loneliness and /or emptiness. If you are honest with yourself, you will be able to tell the difference between a true friendship and one based on co-dependency on your part. I believe the latter will cause more difficulties for you than the former.

Try not to sell yourself short in the friendship department. It is very important to have kind and understanding people around you as much as possible. Bad relationships will keep your illness much more active and you feeling lonelier and emptier in the long run.