make matters worse vs twist the knife

make matters worse

verb
  • To worsen an already difficult situation or unfavourable set of circumstances, typically by acting rashly, foolishly, or incompetently. 

twist the knife

verb
  • To deliberately do or say something to worsen a difficult situation or increase a person's distress, irritation, or anger. 

How often have the words make matters worse and twist the knife occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )