I have a friend who, even after apparently realizing that trying to blind himself to reality and become an escapist wasn't the right way to go, still doesn't feel that life in general is worth his time, or even provides any sort of interest or enjoyment for him anymore. He comes from a fairly harsh background, where many people tend to treat others with indifference at the very least, and at the very worst act abusive and cruel; this even drove him to attempt to commit suicide at one point, but that didn't go through like he planned. He's managed to come away from the worst of that at this point, but now the only real 'friend' or person that he can actually trust or count on for love and support is his own mother, who has also gone through a lot of that crap already in her life to get to this point. As a result, he has a pretty jaded and cold view of people and the world in general, but he's also come to understand that life isn't all bad and that not all people act this way. Still, however, it doesn't seem to be enough to solve everything.
His main problem right now is, that even though he realizes there are things in life he should do, or needs to do - like getting a job, finding a girlfriend, getting a car, etc. - he simply can't seem to feel any excitement or interest from such things. I've asked for advice from others at least once already, and told him what I thought would be the best thing to do; focus on the small things in life, instead of life on the whole, in order to 'build up' interest bit by bit. Essentially, treating life as a journey, rather than a destination. However, it seems that he's already tried that, and he says all it feels like to him is a temporary distraction from everything, and it's not really effective in getting him interested. As he said to me before, "I don't want anything out of life. None of it interests me anymore."
One of the only things I think he can find actual interest in these days, is talking or thinking about a certain animated TV show known as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; specifically, actually going to the world described within and living out a different, more interesting life there. He's told me clearly several times that he doesn't feel that life can really compare to MLP: FiM, and that it's just better and easier for him if he focuses his thoughts about the show or his own idea of being in there. Sometimes his own thoughts will wander off and he'll consistently daydream about it, only to feel terrible afterwards because he can't be in that world or have anything described within it.
That was then, though; I think now, he's coming to realize that he can get good things out of real life, and that he doesn't need the show or anything to do so. However, even that realization hasn't assuaged him entirely, and he still feels no kind of joy or excitement from life even after knowing these things. He's said that he will go on through with it, if only because he promised his mother he would not attempt suicide again, but that he has lost hope that he will ever find any sort of true enjoyment or fulfillment from it. I'm almost certain he is wrong, because life can offer numerous opportunities and interesting outcomes for one with the courage to look for them; still, though, he is going to need some sort of plan or hobby he can do in the interim to keep him interested, or he's gonna lose out on a lot.
I hope that I have given enough details. I'm just at a loss here, since it seems that most of my approaches to this problem in conversation have been ineffective so far. So, I wanted to ask if anyone has had similar thoughts like this before, and if they could please share any experiences and/or advice they may have. Thank you.