mtsgrad,
I would certainly say the religion is to blame. We were actively discouraged from maintaining friendships in the 'world'. So when we leave we have nobody. I didn't even know how to make friends with people and was very wairy, for me i ended up in the pub scene and met people through that. That in itself led to it's own problem though, i started partying hard and began to neglect other areas of my life.
I wouldn't necassarily say your friends weren't real friends. I would say though their friendship was conditional, but then to a degree most friendships are. For example, if you were to do something that hurt a friend then that in itself could destroy the friendship. In the JW case though they take that conditional aspect too far, in my view. I am certain they would become friends again if you went back, but that just goes to show that those friendship are conditional on your actions.
We have all been where you are now. My advice would be that it takes time to cultivate new friends and in so doing extending your social circle. It may be difficult to understand or comprehend now, but time is the greatest healer.
Paul