The reality is that life is full of unfair situations and experiences. Everyone has to deal with injustice at some point in some form. That is the human reality.
Like the serenity saying goes, when you can do something about it, do it. When you can’t, learning to deal with the reality is a healthy, mature path.

I haven’t read the study but I read the CNN report. I don’t think the CNN report shows the power of our *interpretations* affecting our overall health because the report fails to appropriately distinguish between actual unfair treatment and the perception of unfair treatment.

It might be that people who are treated unfairly are at higher risk (whether they perceive it to be unfair or not). It might be that people who perceive that they are treated unfairly are at higher risk (whether they actually are unfairly treated or not).

I’m wondering whether the ‘increased risk’ is intended to be a causal or a correlational claim. It could be that people with depression, heart problems, and substance abuse disorders are unfairly treated *in virtue of their disorders* or it might be that actual (and / or perceived) unfairness tends to cause those disorders.

Hard to know what to make of it really…

“Increased risk” is usually a couch term used to make a correlational relationship between a factor and mental health phenomenon “sound” more causal-y, without actually coming out and making an obviously unsubstantiated causal inferrence from non-experimental data.

So yeah, as you mentioned, Alexandra, it’s impossible to tell whether being treated unfairly causes depression, whether depression facilitates unfair treatment, or whether a third, unmeasured variable is responsible for concurrent increases in both.

I suspect that learned helplessness may be playing a role. We all have expectations about how the world should work and that our actions can affect how we are treated by others. If negative things happen to us (real or perceived) which we do not feel we deserve, it usually conveys the impression that we have lost control over our lives. Hence the feeling of helplessness and the stress that results. It seems interesting that civil servants who are lower in the totem pole (ie reduced control over their circumstances) are more likely to see themselves as being treated unfairly.

I agree.
It’s not surprising that some patients, especially the poor receive unfair treatment from doctors. We all have feelings and it’s harsh to treat patients unfairly.

It’s an obvious case that many people are being treated unfairly. I agree with Wally that money is the reason why doctors do unfair treatments. Money is need and many are willing to do anything just to have it.