Something C.T Russell said (not the C.T Russell but the member here) prompted me to start this thread:
I first joined this forum because I noticed that I had a social problem. After years of shunning people it’s far too easy for me to just cut people out of my life. I have no problem in approaching people and making contact. But when a relationship has a chance to go deeper than just incidental contact I always find an excuse to back out, consciously or not.
This is something I have noticed is common amongst Jehovah's Witnesses. When you are raised in the organization, you grow up with the knowledge that even those closest to you could be lost to you overnight; not just in the way a regular person may lose someone in death but by congregation mandate. This creates an outlook whereby minor differences can be overblown due to the inherent legalistic mindset and "shunning" even in these circumstances comes easier.
I know a few examples personally of physical brothers and sisters or parents and children who haven't spoken for years or decades, not because one has been disfellowshipped or disassociated but because of a petty difference combined with the superficial nature of the relationship. Subconsciously one or bother parties have always kept each other "at arms length" emotionally; I suspect this is a common defence mechanism when people are live in a totalitarian system.