Defining unemployment is not simple, and becomes extremely problematic when it comes to developing countries. Three types of unemployment, which overlap to some degree, have been recognized: (1) those actively seeking employment; (2) those without work but available for and actively seeking it; (3) those available for work but who have become so discouraged that they have given up looking.

Inhumane treatment of animals takes on various forms. Domestic and captive animals often live in inhumane or insanitary conditions. This is the case in many zoos. Unfit domestic animals can be abandoned or painfully put death. In some countries, the surplus of dogs is controlled by the use of strychnine. There is wanton abuse of animals for man's convenience, namely for the claims and interests of science, sport, entertainment and the production of food. Inhumane slaughter of food animals is still widespread in the meat industry and in the whaling and sealing industries. The cramming of geese is but another example of cruelty inflicted on livestock. Cruel transportation, whether by road, rail, sea or air, is one of the main causes of animal suffering.

Depression is a disease with a specific set of symptoms, notably a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Depression sufferers lose vitality, self-esteem and experience mood disorders. Depression is the cause of unreasonable and unnecessary suffering for millions of people, often to the point of disabling the sufferer. Depressed individuals usually struggle with completing their day-to-day tasks, feeling as if there’s no more point in living. 

Depressive disorders can be found throughout the world. Depressive patients account for a significant proportion of all those requiring mental heath care and, as the majority of them remain untreated, their suffering continues to disable them and to cause losses to their families and communities. The situation is especially severe in developing countries. Lack of adequate detection and treatment is due to poorly-trained health workers, scarce resources, and insufficient knowledge.

By 2020 depression will be the second most debilitating disease, yet in many parts of the world depression is stigmatized, with many people refusing treatment for fear of social backlash. Even so, tremendous strides are being made in the study and treatment of depression, including a better understanding of its causes and how best to treat it.

In psychiatry, a major depressive episode refers to a clinical syndrome consisting of lowering of mood-tone (feelings of painful dejection), and loss of interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities, most of the time for a period of at least two weeks. It is experienced as a paralyzing listlessness, dejection and self-deprecation, as well as an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. It is a pathological state of conscious psychic suffering and guilt, accompanied by a marked reduction in the sense of personal values, and a diminution of mental, psychomotor, and even organic activity, unrelated to actual deficiency. As used by the layman, the word depression refers to the mood element, which in psychiatry would more appropriately be labelled dejection, sadness, gloominess, despair or despondency. Dysthymia is the state just below the threshold for major depression.

Theft is the unjust taking of what belongs to another. There is a pervasive trend in modern criminal codes to consolidate most property acquisition offences, including stealing, larceny, embezzlement, cheating in buying and selling (such as obtaining property under false pretenses and falsifying of weights and measures), and receipt of stolen property under theft as a single offence, previously unknown as such under common law; robbery is often treated as an exception.

Cancer, which is not a single disease but a spectrum of diseases that includes more than 100 kinds, is characterized by the unrestrained growth of cells. Cells naturally grow and multiply, but in a healthy body this growth is controlled by a complex series of regulatory mechanisms. Cancer occurs when this regulation fails and cell division goes haywire. In most cancer cases, unrestrained growth leads to the formation of tumours which spread into and often kill normal tissue. When not attended to, such a tumour (which is called malignant) ordinarily leads to death, but there can be a long delay between its onset and the appearance of obvious symptoms.

In connective tissues (such as bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle) cancers are called sarcomas; in epithelial tissues (such as skin, bladder, lung, breast) they are called carcinomas; and in cells of the blood system they are named leukaemias.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the industrialized world and is rapidly becoming a major disease in the Third World as well. Though the aetiology is still undetermined, certain cancers are linked to certain environmental and lifestyle factors such as carcinogenic substances in the work environment, cigarette smoking, excess exposure to the sun, alcohol, diets high in fat and low in fibre, and stress.

Speculating about the origins of cancer, many oncologists describe a cancer personality - repressed and depressed - and draw attention to the loss or bereavement which commonly precedes the onset of the disease. Lung cancer patients are most often people unable to express strong emotions. Cancer of the cervix occurs most often among women with a tendency to helplessness or a sense of hopeless frustration derived from some unresolved conflict in the preceding six months. Overall, the most important factors in the development of malignancy are: a loss of raison d'être; an inability to express anger or resentment; marked self dislike and distrust; and most significantly, loss of an important emotional relationship.