Comment by TFNA
14 hours ago
At the same time, TNG did depict Picard as a solitary and isolated figure, whose family relationships had frayed, and it's not hard to view his unusual dedication to his leadership as a way to deal with that emptiness in the rest of his life.
I always saw it as the other way around: his family relationships had frayed because he had dedicated his life so completely to Starfleet.
That's exactly it. It wasn't subtle either. He had some people in his past that he's neglected.