# mettere in crisi



## elettra

Sto traducendo: "le politiche belliciste sono state messe in crisi dal movimento  vicentino nowar"
, ma come si dice "mettere in crisi?". Non c'è neppure sul dizionario!

Ancora grazieeeeeeeeeee!


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## shamblesuk

'thrown into crisis'

Lee


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## elettra

thank you again!!


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## Paulfromitaly

I'm not sure that "thrown into crisis" works in every context..

Le persone anziane sono *messe in crisi* dal caldo soffocante.
The elderly are *thrown in crisis* by the stifling heat. ?? (I don't like it)

Il manto stradale bagnato *mette in crisi* i motociclisti.
A wet road surface *throws in crisis* *(cause trouble?)* the bikers??

I figli sono *messi in crisi* dal divorzio dei genitori
The children are *disconcerted* by their parents' divorce??


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## M_07

Il moderatore è messo in crisi dai thread senza contesto.
The moderator is *throws in crisis  by threads without background and contest.

*


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## Einstein

As shamblesuk says, *thrown INTO crisis*.

As Paul says, "thrown into crisis" may not be appropriate in all situations, but I'd say it fits in elettra's example.
There may be alternatives.


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## Paulfromitaly

Einstein said:


> As shamblesuk says, *thrown INTO crisis*.
> 
> As Paul says, "thrown into crisis" may not be appropriate in all situations, but I'd say it fits in elettra's example.
> There may be alternatives.



Ok, but would you use it also in my examples? Or would you find another way to say it?
Is "to disconcert" a good alternative when talking about feelings?


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## Einstein

Paulfromitaly said:


> I'm not sure that "thrown into crisis" works in every context..
> 
> Le persone anziane sono *messe in crisi* dal caldo soffocante.
> The elderly *suffer *in the stifling heat.
> 
> Il manto stradale bagnato *mette in crisi* i motociclisti.
> A wet road surface *creates problems for* bikers (I say motorcyclists).
> 
> I figli sono *messi in crisi* dal divorzio dei genitori
> The children are *distressed *by their parents' divorce??


 
These are not the only possibilities but Paul is right to say that "crisis" is not so common in daily language in English; it's more appropriate in politics, as in the original example. Also in medicine there are alternatives to crisis: epileptic *fit*, nervous *breakdown*.


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## Paulfromitaly

Einstein said:


> I figli sono *messi in crisi* dal divorzio dei genitori
> The children are *distressed *by their parents' divorce
> 
> 
> 
> These are not the only possibilities but Paul is right to say that "crisis" is not so common in daily language in English; it's more appropriate in politics, as in the original example. Also in medicine there are alternatives to crisis: epileptic *fit*, nervous *breakdown*.
Click to expand...


Thanks, those are good alternatives.
Could your translations work also for "mandare in crisi"?
For example, what could be a colloquial, but not rude version of:

Uno sbalzo di corrente ha mandato in crisi il computer.
A glitch fu*ked the computer up.


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## Starbuck

Paulfromitaly said:


> Thanks, those are good alternatives.
> Could your translations work also for "mandare in crisi"?
> For example, what could be a colloquial, but not rude version of:
> 
> Uno sbalzo di corrente ha mandato in crisi il computer.
> A glitch fu*ked the computer up.


 
Ciao a tutti,

Even though such a computer glitch might not literally "crash" the whole system, it's very common to hear people say in this context:
_This glitch crashed my computer._
_My computer crashed because of the glitch in the system._

Other possibilities for the other sentences:
_A wet road surface is extremely hazardous for bikers._
_Children are emotionally scarred by divorce._
_Extreme heat jeopardizes the health of senior citizens._

_"Thrown into crisis" _would not be commonly-heard English in these contexts.

Starbuck


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## Paulfromitaly

Starting from this old thread:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=399195&highlight=crisi



Einstein said:


> I figli sono *messi in crisi* dal divorzio dei genitori
> The children are *distressed *by their parents' divorce??



When we say "mettere in crisi" we often mean it from psychological point of view.
Taken that distress is a good translation for "crisi", could I say something like "put in distress" ?


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## happy-too

Paulfromitaly...I'm sure you could say "put in distress"...however from an AE perspective...it sounds off. Then again, so does "put in crisis." It might more commonly be expressed as "the children were distressed over the divorce of their parents." or "the children seemed distressed by their parents' divorce." Other words synonymous with "distressed" (that are very common in American English) which could be used to describe feelings of children over a divorce are: agitated, nervous, concerned, anxious, unsettled, uneasy. But in the long run, we just seldom use "put" to signify that a feeling has been evoked by an event. Hope this helps in some way.


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## Murphy

According to Mirriam-Webster, you can.
"Distress implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress <the hurricane put everyone in great _distress_>"

Otherwise you can say "cause someone distress".


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## Paulfromitaly

happy-too said:


> Paulfromitaly...I'm sure you could say "put in distress"...however from an AE perspective...it sounds off. Then again, so does "put in crisis." It might more commonly be expressed as "the children were distressed over the divorce of their parents." or "the children seemed distressed by their parents' divorce." Other words synonymous with "distressed" (that are very common in American English) which could be used to describe feelings of children over a divorce are: agitated, nervous, concerned, anxious, unsettled, uneasy. But in the long run, we just seldom use "put" to signify that a feeling has been evoked by an event. Hope this helps in some way.



Thank you, your explanation is very comprehensive.
I was trying to find out whether "put" could work in this context because I wanted to find an expression as similar as possible to the Italian "mettere in crisi", where a situation (in that example the divorce) is the subject of the sentence and it has an "active" function, being the direct cause of the kids' distress.



Murphy said:


> According to Mirriam-Webster, you can.
> "Distress implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress <the hurricane put everyone in great _distress_>"
> 
> Otherwise you can say "cause someone distress".


Cheers Murphy.
So _cause someone distress_ is something people usually say?


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## happy-too

Murphy said:


> According to Mirriam-Webster, you can.
> "Distress implies an external and usually temporary cause of great physical or mental strain and stress <the hurricane put everyone in great _distress_>"
> 
> Otherwise you can say "cause someone distress".


 

Thanks Murphy!  The word "cause" was right on the tip of my...erm...fingers!  So a big YES...that "cause" is synonymous with "put" in this particular instance.  "The divorce is causing distress in the children." or "The divorce caused the children to be/become/feel distressed." etc....


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## Murphy

Paulfromitaly said:


> So _cause someone distress_ is something people usually say?


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## pcastellina

"La parole di Giovanni mettevano in crisi il suo uditorio", propongo: "John's words called his listeners into question, making their conscience burn with discofort".


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## joe86

humm...as far as I know _to call someone into question_ means _mettere qualcuno in dubbio, discussione..._so I don't know if it can be appropriate in this case.

My personal attempt: _*John's words caused distress in his audience*_

I don't actually know whether you could use _throw into crisis_ in this context, and definitely not j_eopardize_ as it is close _to put at stake_

Let's wait for some natives' opinions 

In the meantime, hope it helps

Joe


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## rafanadal

What about "send someone over the edge"?
Or  "play havoc"?
or "going through a crunch"?


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## rrose17

You can simply say "John's words disturbed his audience."


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## You little ripper!

Or _*John's words made his audience feel uncomfortable/discomforted his audience.*_


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## rrose17

Maybe it's a British vs North American usage but I've never heard of discomfort being used as a verb.


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## cavillous

Ho letto con interesse i vari tentativi di tradurre _mettere in crisi_ nei vari contesti.
Purtroppo devo dire che quasi nessuna soluzione riesce a cogliere l'aspetto psicologico insito nel mettere in crisi qualcuno o qualcosa (anche il PC diventa un po' umano quando entra in questo stato).Per non parlare del registro linguistico formale nel primo thread e per nulla formale negli altri esempi italiani, mentre nelle traduzioni inglesi proposte si ha quasi sempre un registro semi-formale.

Cavillous


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## You little ripper!

rrose17 said:


> Maybe it's a British vs North American usage but I've never heard of discomfort being used as a verb.


Rrose, it's definitely used as a verb. The Encarta dictionary, which is North American, has it listed as a verb. There are many Google references of *discomfort* used as a verb  in this context and most of them seem to be American.  

Links

Links


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## joe86

Cavillous...to be honest I agree with you, but only up to a point. 
You are right to claim that saying _*throw into crisis *_probably doesn't get the idea of a mental disruption, but it seems to me that when you include the word _*discomfort*_ or _*distress*_ you do take into account the psychological aspect of _mettere in crisi_.

Joe


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## rrose17

Charles Costante said:


> Rrose, it's definitely used as a verb. The Encarta dictionary, which is North American, has it listed as a verb. There are many Google references of *discomfort* used as a verb in this context and most of them seem to be American.


 
Well, I stand corrected!  Of course when I see it I understand and agree with discomforted and discomforting as in feeling discomforted and finding a situation discomforting but I still can't see "discomforting someone".

Ron


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## You little ripper!

rrose17 said:


> Well, I stand corrected!  Of course when I see it I understand and agree with discomforted and discomforting as in feeling discomforted and finding a situation discomforting but I still can't see "discomforting someone".
> 
> Ron


There are a few Google listings for "to discomfort someone",  but you don't hear it much in Australia. *To discomfort an audience *would be a lot more common.


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## cavillous

joe86 said:


> Cavillous...to be honest I agree with you, but only up to a point.
> You are right to claim that saying _*throw into crisis *_probably doesn't get the idea of a mental disruption, but it seems to me that when you include the word _*discomfort*_ or _*distress*_ you do take into account the psychological aspect of _mettere in crisi_.
> 
> Joe


 
 Concordo pienamente con l'aspetto psicologico che *discomfort* (disagio)or *distress* (angoscia,pena) possono veicolare.Il problema sta nel registro linguistico completamente diverso.Concorderai che mettere in crisi è molto più "colorito" di disagio o angoscia.
Forse il problema sta nel fatto che _mettere in crisi_ in italiano può assumere sia sfumature formali come nel caso del primo thread oppure diventare molto colloquiale come nel caso del PC mandato in crisi.
Non penso che discomfort o distress possano tradurre adeguatamente il gusto iperbolico dell'andare in crisi per un non nulla tipico della cultura e della lingua italiana.

Cavillous


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## You little ripper!

OP  translates *mettere in crisi* as *put someone in a difficult position.* 

We also have the colloquial expression *send/throw someone into a spin*, which means *to make someone very anxious and confused.
* 
  I wonder whether that might fit here?


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## solfro

Da questo forum ho già tratto qualche utile indicazione. Mi chiedo (e chiedo a qualche madrelingua) se in c erti casi non si possa utilizzare anche *challenge* (ad esempio: le istituzioni politiche sono messe in crisi ... = political institutions are challenged ...).
Grazie per l'aiuto.


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## ladymaryann

Hi everybody,

do you think I could translate the expression "il nostro rapporto è in crisi" with "our relationship is thrown into crisis!"

(I need a litterally translation!)

thanks


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## You little ripper!

ladymaryann said:


> Hi everybody,
> 
> do you think I could translate the expression "il nostro rapporto è in crisi" with "our relationship is thrown into crisis!"
> 
> (I need a litterally translation!)
> 
> thanks


What sort of relationship are we talking about here, ladymaryann? 'Thrown into crisis' is fine in the context of relationships between countries, but in personal relationships such as a marriage, "Our relationship is on the rocks" would be better.


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## ladymaryann

Thank you for your answer Charles,

Actually I'm trying to translate a text; 

there is a sort of comparizon between a married couple in which the woman is the one who trys every ways to keep alive the marriage relationship, and another  "couple" formed by a nail and a painting in which the nail is the only one who really works hard to mantain the bond.

The nail says to the painting "I can't bear you anymore! I give up!" and the painting fall down.


the expression "our relationship is thrown into crisis" should refers to both "couples".

BUT...

I Might translate it in another way...

for example the nail could say: "WE ARE CLOSE TO THE BREAKING POINT!"

but does this expression has the same double meaning??

Sorry for this post so long and thank you so much!


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## You little ripper!

ladymaryann said:


> Thank you for your answer Charles,
> 
> Actually I'm trying to translate a text;
> 
> there is a sort of comparizon between a married couple in which the woman is the one who trys every ways to keep alive the marriage relationship, and another  "couple" formed by a nail and a painting in which the nail is the only one who really works hard to mantain the bond.
> 
> The nail says to the painting "I can't bear you anymore! I give up!" and the painting fall down.
> 
> 
> the expression "our relationship is thrown into crisis" should refers to both "couples".
> 
> BUT...
> 
> I Might translate it in another way...
> 
> for example the nail could say: "WE ARE CLOSE TO THE BREAKING POINT!"
> 
> but does this expression has the same double meaning??
> 
> Sorry for this post so long and thank you so much!


'To be at  breaking point' works for both people and inanimate objects, so 'We are close to breaking point' would work quite nicely.


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## Odysseus54

Nei casi in cui la messa in crisi e' diciamo cosi' psicologica , io userei "upset", che secondo il Merriam-Webster, significa : "to trouble mentally or emotionally, disturb the poise of , throw into disorder ".

"The divorce upset the children"

Un'alto modo, un po' piu' forte, e' "push over the edge" :



In senso politico, economico ecc. "upset" si puo' certe volte usare , ma anche "put into crisis", come gia' suggerito, pare possa funzionare.  Onestamente qui non lo sento ne' leggo usare spesso, ma da quello che mi dice Google pare sia usato molto , ed esattamente nel senso dell'espressione italiana, e da autori di lingua inglese.

Quando si tratta di altre applicazioni metaforiche - in Italiano "mettere in crisi" si usa piu' del prezzemolo - es. " l'asfalto bagnato mette in crisi i motociclisti "  magari " wet asphalt makes riding a motorcycle a lot harder"


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## rrose17

"WE ARE CLOSE TO THE BREAKING POINT!" 
Sorry CC but over here we would say it exactly as written above.
You could also say _"Everything's falling apart!"_ which would work for both situations.


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## You little ripper!

rrose17 said:


> "WE ARE CLOSE TO THE BREAKING POINT!"
> Sorry CC but over here we would say it exactly as written above.


It's grammatically correct but I wouldn't use it here; it sounds very stiff to me. There are only 8 Google listings for it compared to over two thousand for "We are close to breaking point".

We are close to breaking point

We are close to the breaking point


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## rrose17

Google "at the breaking point" and you get 38 million...


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## You little ripper!

rrose17 said:


> Google "at the breaking point" and you get 38 million...


I said that I wouldn't use it there. "At *the* breaking point" sounds perfectly OK in certain contexts, but in my opinion "We are close to *the* breaking point" doesn't flow as well as "We are close to breaking point".


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## tomzenith

Forse andrebbe qualcosa come 'we're (completely) falling apart' oppure 'we're coming apart'? Che ne pensate?


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## alfabeta

I can see the simple word "upset" working well too.


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## Einstein

"Upset" may correspond in some cases but I don't think it's a general translation. It sounds much milder than "mettere in crisi".


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## anglomania1

Hello, I have to translate "mettere in crisi" too. 
My sentence is talking about the Chinese Prime Minister having 2 possible courses of action - either to sell dollars and buy euros or to buy more dollars, thus devalutating the euro (I don't want to enter into the economics of it all!), here is the sentence:
"Dalle notizie che si ricavano dai giornali, in questi giorni sembra che il Primo Ministro cinese abbia scelto la seconda opzione, mettendo (insieme ad altri) in grave crisi l’euro e l’economia europea."

What do you think about "putting the Euro and the European economy in difficulty"??
Or could I simply use "throw into crisis" in this context?
thanks for any comments, 
Anglo


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## rrose17

How about 
putting/pushing ... into a difficult situation.
putting ... into a grave situation.


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## Einstein

Hi Anglo 
How about "creating a serious crisis for..." ?
I also subscribe to your suggestions and rrose's.

BTW, devaluing, not devalutating .


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## bmbm59

Relaunching this old thread, I'm trying to translate (from an interview to a painter):"La pittura è una cosa che non si può definire, astratta ma quasi karmica, ti chiama, ti fa dipingere, ti fa lavorare,  ti mette in crisi, ti risolleva anche.". My attempt is "Painting is something you cannot define, abstract and karmic at the same time, it calls you, it drives you to paint, it *disconcerts/discomforts/distresses/jeopardizes  you/causes you distress*, it relieves you also" Which alternative is the best? Or any other suggestion? I need to give the idea of a quite profound psychological crisis


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## underhouse

bmbm59 said:


> Relaunching this old thread, I'm trying to translate (from an interview to a painter):"La pittura è una cosa che non si può definire, astratta ma quasi karmica, ti chiama, ti fa dipingere, ti fa lavorare,  ti mette in crisi, ti risolleva anche.". My attempt is "Painting is something you cannot define, abstract and karmic at the same time, it calls you, it drives you to paint, it *disconcerts/discomforts/distresses/jeopardizes  you/causes you distress*, it relieves you also" Which alternative is the best? Or any other suggestion? I need to give the idea of a quite profound psychological crisis



It throws you off the mark?


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## GavinW

underhouse said:


> It throws you off the mark?



Not really, I fear. That sounds far too specific.
The expression is very difficult to get a grasp on, in English.
I suggest:

It torments you.
It plagues you with self-doubt.

(These are just suggestions to steer the thread towards something more accurate than has been suggested before. There are plenty of other possibilities, but the expression itself is flexible in Italian, covering a "multitude of sins".)


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## theartichoke

I wonder if "it throws you into crises" (plural, not singular) would work. If the expression is flexible in Italian, this might be a flexible translation: the painter's crises could be of different kinds at different times.


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## curiosone

theartichoke said:


> I wonder if "it throws you into crises"  plural, not singular) would work. If the expression is flexible in Italian, this might be a flexible translation: the painter's crises could be of different kinds at different times.



Referring to an artist, I like Gavin's "It torments you."  

Referring to the original discussion of "causing distress" (which is perfectly correct), I'm surprised nobody pointed out that "distress" also functions as a verb.  So something can simply distress you.


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## Paulfromitaly

In Italian there's a difference between "mettere sotto pressione/stressare" and "mettere in crisi", the latter implying a greater degree of distress.


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## GavinW

Paulfromitaly said:


> In Italian there's a difference between "mettere sotto pressione/stressare" and "mettere in crisi", the latter implying a greater degree of distress.



This is true, of course. But there's a cultural mismatch here. The Latins (Italians, French, and probably Spanish too for all I know...) have a particular concept of a physical or even an existential crisis that is pretty much alien to the Anglo-Saxon way of viewing things. We might gain some insights/ideas from looking at how the French translate "crise". One corollary of this is that we're probably barking up a gumtree looking for a one-off, catch-all translation to cover all scenarios/contexts. Another corollary is that accurate translations even on a case-by-case basis are likely to be elusive. Just some thoughts, not trying to put a downer on anyone.... :-(


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## underhouse

GavinW said:


> One corollary of this is that we're probably barking up a gumtree looking for a one-off, catch-all translation to cover all scenarios/contexts. Another corollary is that accurate translations even on a case-by-case basis are likely to be elusive.



Penso che questo si il punto: basta considerare che il termine "crisi" in italiano viene usato anche per indicare "dubbio" o "indecisione", non solo "stress psicologico".
Faccio un esempio:
Ieri volevo comprare un paio di scarpe, sono uscito che avevo le idee chiare... Poi, entrato in un negozio, mi hanno fatto vedere tanti di quei modelli che sono entrato in crisi e non sapevo quale scegliere.


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## bmbm59

Thanks to everybody! The topic seems to resonate...The person interviewed, besides being an artist has also severe psychiatric problems, and his talking about "mettere in crisi" has for him deep implications. That said, would you agree on choosing "It torments you"?


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## curiosone

bmbm59 said:


> Thanks to everybody! The topic seems to resonate...The person interviewed, besides being an artist has also severe psychiatric problems, and his talking about "mettere in crisi" has for him deep implications. That said, would you agree on choosing "It torments you"?



Yes I would.  



> In Italian there's a difference between "mettere sotto pressione/stressare" and "mettere in crisi", the latter implying a greater degree of distress.



Paul, there's a world of difference (in English) between "stress" and "distress."


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## Paulfromitaly

curiosone said:


> Paul, there's a world of difference (in English) between "stress" and "distress."


Of course and I only used "distress" in English in my first query, not stress


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## curiosone

Paulfromitaly said:


> Of course and I only used "distress" in English in my first query, not stress



So what point were you trying to make, in post #12?

You can cause distress for someone, or you can distress someone.
You can be distressed.
You can be tormented.
You can be undecided.
You can be in doubt, or plagued with doubt.
You can be in agony.

As Gavin said, there is no single translation for "mettere in crisi."  It depends on the context.  

Referring to an artist painting, "torment" or "agony" both work well, but torment works better, if you want a verb.  A classic example is the film "Il Tormento e l'Estasi" / "The Agony and the Ecstasy" about Michelangelo.


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## Paulfromitaly

curiosone said:


> So what point were you trying to make, in post #12?



I was pointing up that "mettere in crisi" is somehow stronger than "mettere in difficoltà/mettere sotto pressione"


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## curiosone

Paulfromitaly said:


> I was pointing up that "mettere in crisi" is somehow stronger than "mettere in difficoltà/mettere sotto pressione"



And I guess I was trying to point out that "mettere sotto pressione" may be a good definition for "stress", but not for "distress.  

At any rate Underhouse pointed out that there are varying degrees of being "in crisi" in Italian, before even attempting to translate it.


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