Accurately distinguishing the stability of the residual coal pillars formed by the room-and-pillar mining method is significant for the safe mining of adjacent coal seams. In this study, the correlation between the rapid decrease in vertical stress and the connectivity of the internal dissipative energy core during the instability of coal pillars is revealed. Then, a new method for distinguishing the stability of coal pillars based on the above correlation is proposed, overcoming the shortcomings of previous studies that only used the plastic zone range to determine the stability of coal pillars. Based on this discriminant index and simulation method, the mechanism of residual coal pillar failure as well as the dynamic instability and expansion characteristics of multi-pillars have been revealed. The engineering method of grouting and filling to enhance the bearing capacity of coal pillars is proposed, and an in-depth study is conducted on the improvement effect of different strength filling materials on the bearing capacity of coal pillars. And the reasonable filling body strength is determined to be greater than 3MPa. The new discrimination method has important guiding significance for the analysis of coal pillar stability and the formulation of safety protection technical measures on engineering scales.