The phrase "a distressing one" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a situation, event, or experience that causes distress or discomfort.
Example: "The news of the accident was a distressing one for the entire community."
Alternatives: "a troubling one" or "a painful one."
While the experience of going through a mass psychogenic illness is a distressing one in most cases, I also liked the idea that you only get it if you identify with another person, if you feel empathy.
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK's campaign manager for Syria, said: "The sight of armed and masked men on stage 'educating' young boys is obviously a distressing one.
The situation was clearly a distressing one for both the Meads.
20 October Being diagnosed with cancer is an expensive experience, as well as a distressing one.
No, it is "a dreary, desolate, and indeed quite abject and distressing one; what we might call, by way of eminence, the dismal science".Carlyle was a fine one to talk.
And another distressing one for Marek Hamsik.
Although the zoo was spared, the fire almost reached the lion house, distressing one of the older lionesses so much that she had to be shot.
Notoriously, if someone is commanded not to imagine an elephant, almost inevitably they will imagine one; and some images, very often particularly distressing ones, can be very hard to voluntarily dismiss (see Thomas (2014 §§4-5) for elaboration of these points).
For the interns, the incident was a distressing end to one of the largest protests centered on their rights at the UN in New York.
"In the course of thinking back over your 29 years," he says, "I called to mind many charming memories (and some distressing ones as well); and among the highest ranking of them all was when you were three, just before I went into military service.
Dementia is a distressing illness and one which, we are warned, will become much more common as the population ages.
