Gut-wrenching

[Sirona]

Dear friends of the English language,

as you helped my so nicely with my other language question that today I got a new one for you.

It's about somebody feeling somebody else's pain intuitively without consciously acknowledging it.

Sample phrase: I see the despondency in [the other's eyes]

-which goes so deep that I feel my gut wrenching
-which goes so deep that I feel it viscerally
-which affects me so deeply that

I think "affect" and "viscerally" sound very neutral and a bit medical, and therefore, a bit like the opposite of what I want to say but I'm no expert. If anyone can come up with a more elegant solution, please share it. Thanks.

 

[Polymath257]

I would bump it up a bit:

It goes so deep it is gut-wrenching.

 

[PureX]

Bone wrenching? Bone jarring? Gut punching?

 

[ChristineM]

I'd probability miss out the lead I'm
and just go with

It's... gut wrenching, heartbreaking, heart rending, distressing

Something along those lines

 

[Sirona]

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Windwalker]

Dear friends of the English language,

as you helped my so nicely with my other language question that today I got a new one for you.

It's about somebody feeling somebody else's pain intuitively without consciously acknowledging it.

Sample phrase: I see the despondency in [the other's eyes]

-which goes so deep that I feel my gut wrenching
-which goes so deep that I feel it viscerally
-which affects me so deeply that

I think "affect" and "viscerally" sound very neutral and a bit medical, and therefore, a bit like the opposite of what I want to say but I'm no expert. If anyone can come up with a more elegant solution, please share it. Thanks.

Combine the two. "I see the despondency in their eyes, which goes so deep it affects me viscerally".

Or you could go more dramatic. "It cut my soul". Something like that.

 

[Polymath257]

Or maybe something like:

"I see the despondency in their eyes, which I felt as a physical pain."

 

[Sirona]

Combine the two. "I see the despondency in their eyes, which goes so deep it affects me viscerally".

I like this best. Thanks again to all for your suggestions!