I think there are a couple of different ways this plays out. One is an interior thing. This is how the person sees their life. Always with drama. It’s a way to get attention, and to get people involved with them. It’s a way to bind friends to them, and get sympathy; maybe even help. Certainly a listening ear.
The other form is people who really are in bad shape. They might be there because they are born there, or because of health issues, or because they aren’t capable of making good choices. People born into poverty have a hell of a time making it through life, and often suffer one disaster after another because of it. People with health problems, often lose all their money trying to care for themselves, and then end up in poverty, and suffer one disaster after another because of it. People who make bad choices also end up in poverty and suffer one disaster after another because of it.
Hmm, there’s a theme there. Poverty leads to suffering in our culture. Perhaps in every culture. Poverty, too, is a frame of mind, because it is based on expectations. You can be very poor and still be happy, if you are grateful for what you have. You can be rich and unhappy if you always expect much more than you have. Suffering, I think, comes from a large gap between one’s expectations, and one’s actual situation, and the belief that one can not ever get what one expects to have.