Irritable bowel syndrome complaints following the uprising of December 1989 in Romania.

Irritable bowel syndrome has a strong psychogenic component. One of its features is the influence of stress on the clinical state. An increased amount of irritable-bowel-like symptoms within the first month following the uprising in Romania in December 1989 is reported. These symptoms seem to be related to the impressive amount of stress developed by dramatic events presented live on television and watched by the population. Several new cases as compared to the previous year were also reported by our group for the study of psychogenic factors in irritable bowel syndrome.