"social lubrication" is another way of saying reducing anxiety stress.

Social anxiety about the current moment, though. They are different anxieties.

It goes hand in hand. Mental performance is to a large degree reliant on physical performance, as for digestion, respiration, blood circulation, hormone ballance, wakefullness (focus), muscle tonus (literally being upright), nervous integrity and what have you.

Maybe a small bit of spirit is helpfull for digestion. For everything else, alcohol is a nervous agent. Social easing is a bit like shaking up the weights of a neural network, a little randomization does often make no difference and might even help to get out of a local minimum, but also away from an optimum. You don't want to go at it with a cheese grater and kitchen mixer, or let an epileptic operate with a rusty knife on an open heart.

I used alcohol as a social lubricant in college but it was a hit or miss as you said due to do randomization of those weights.

What worked for me years later was to actually work out and lose weight and people start looking at you differently.

It's irrelevant if one's alcohol requirement for social interaction still results in frequent consumption and potential addiction.

I’m not proud of it. I was as shocked by the effect at that time.