I'm 25, going to college and have amazingly awful social anxiety. I have lived completely alone no where near family for about a year now since I moved for school and am crazy lonely.

I wasn't always crazy socially anxious. My social anxiety really came about when I was 16. I had encephalitis which basically erased my memory and I had to start over new.

When I recovered and went back to school I regained friends I had made before I got sick, but in the 7 years since I graduated highschool my old friends have moved away, lost contact, and my social anxiety grew and grew, until I couldn't socialize with anyone outside of family and even have trouble with them.

For about 7 years I haven't made any friends, and haven't socialized with any in about 4 years...

It may sound odd, but I honestly don't know how to make friends. I don't know how to socialize. I don't know how to start and keep a conversation, or join in on one.

Oddly though, at work or school I can seem to BS around my anxiety with classmates or coworkers or customers and have a short explanatory conversation about a topic at hand no problem. But when it comes to social communication I have no clue...

When and how do I start a conversation? How do you continue a conversation? And how in the hell do you set up a time outside of school or work to socialize with someone?

Simple human nature it seems, but I must be some kind of bloody alien who has no clue how any of this works.

And most importantly....

How to NOT have a panic attack when attempting a social interaction?....