Pulling away from people sits upstream of a good deal: low mood, social fear, and the slow shrinking of where someone is willing to go. Whatever the eventual label, getting a person back into contact is rarely wasted work.

What the research says

A meta-analysis found that intolerance of uncertainty, the sense that not knowing is unbearable, runs across generalised anxiety, social anxiety, panic, agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive difficulties and depression rather than belonging to any one of them. Ingredients shared between these conditions are real, which is part of why working upstream can make sense. That analysis concerns one particular ingredient, so it supports the general idea rather than proving anything about isolation itself.

Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.