excruciating
torturous
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Saddening, shocking and upsetting
affecting
agonizingly
arrogance
baleful
be cold comfortidiom
disrespect
distressful
distressfully
distressing
distressingly
hurtful
hurtfully
impiously
impiousness
lacerating
teary
touching
touchingly
tragically
traumatic
harrowing | American Dictionary
harrowing
adjective
us/ˈhær·oʊ·ɪŋ/
extremely upsetting because connected with suffering:
His book tells the harrowing story of how they climbed Mt. Everest.