He has strong social anxiety if it's even more than a moderately sized group of people. But very much at home and happy when it's a small group of people he knows well, or one-on-one.

The same is true for both my brother and myself... I have a number of quite close friends, yet my preferred interaction is one-on-one.

Couldn't agree more that it's strong social connections that bring purpose. He's struggling on that front being out of school, but school brings other troubles.

(The other aspect of purpose is a sense of achievement in one's work... that's a struggle too.)