I think this sort of mental illness is becoming more common and I like to think that it's specific to an age group...particularly the ones that grew up in the time of social media where they don't form real relationships or communicate in person and everything they see in their digital worlds seems much better than it really is. And probably also partly due to the "everyone's a winner" and "everything is OKAY" attitude that coddles people and let's society build a protective narrative of equality around them so that they can't handle disappointment or inadequacy. It all sort of messes up their social skills and ability to cope with the regular ups and downs of life.
As for getting him involved in something like sports, that would be a great answer. Really, getting him involved in anything. He loves (or at least used to love) tennis, but he's so inept at making friends, bad in social situations, and stubbornly against hanging out with his sisters and me (also, leaving the comfort of his apartment) that its impossible to get him into that kind of setting. It's so bad now that his sisters have given up on trying to get him out and socialized.
For example, my wife and sister in law told him he had to come over once a week to play video games and just hang out. His response was "fine, but I'm just going to sit there and ignore you and be on my phone." Another example, it was the night before my wedding and he came out with us (it was a pretty small group...maybe 10 people or less) to get a few drinks. Nothing special, nothing truly intimidating, and all people he had known for years. He just stood with his back to the bar, staring at the ceiling with his arms crossed all night, never having a drink and not having a single real conversation besides maybe uttering a "yes" or "no" occasionally when a question was tossed his way. On this particular night, my friend (tried to have a conversation with him and he blew her off. She told me later that he seemed like an ***hole and that he was very rude to her. First of all, he was deluded into thinking I invited this friend (who is admittedly a very attractive girl) to try to hook them up and he was pissed about that. When we told him what she said, he went ballistic. He was crushed that she thought he was a jerk. He couldn't cope with the idea that someone thought poorly of him and that it was his fault.
I'm at a loss for what to do with this kid short of putting him on a shuttle to Mars. Every attempt at socializing him fails. Every attempt at getting him help fails. He doesn't listen to logic. He's completely deluded, thinking that he is literally the smartest and most creative person on Earth and that no one can understand him because they're so far below him (his excuse for sucking at social endeavors). He thinks he's experienced everything there is to experience in life and so he's just passing the time now until he dies in utter boredom because there's nothing left for him (despite having never traveled anywhere or done anything). He lives entirely for and within himself.
If it's that bad, another possibility is to "socialize" him with animals.
It sounds like he needs some form of concrete interactions to get out of his own head. Where interactions with people are too much, interactions with animals may be less intimidating, but might otherwise give him a sense of companionship. Animals have been known to help people with aspergers, who otherwise have difficulty with people.
I was going to comment before. The guy you talked about is virtually identical to this other guy I know. In fact I actually checked your profile to make sure we're not talking about the same person.
At any rate, what really helped the guy I'm talking about is sports. Any kind of sport or physical activity where you can meet alot of people is a good thing. For example ultimate frisbee.
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If it's that bad, another possibility is to "socialize" him with animals.
It sounds like he needs some form of concrete interactions to get out of his own head. Where interactions with people are too much, interactions with animals may be less intimidating, but might otherwise give him a sense of companionship. Animals have been known to help people with aspergers, who otherwise have difficulty with people.
At any rate, what really helped the guy I'm talking about is sports. Any kind of sport or physical activity where you can meet alot of people is a good thing. For example ultimate frisbee.