The study of the psychologic profile of patients with the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has shown that psychologic aggression, personality abnormalities, psychiatric diagnostics and pathologic behaviour patterns are more frequently encountered than in normal subjects or those with other disease. Moreover, patients with IBS often relate psychological events experienced in infancy such as a lost child, divorce of parents, or sexual abuse which can affect their future and particularly their manner of seeking medical advice. As it is known that only between 23 and 38 per cent of patients with IBS seek medical advice, it is also important to know whether these psychologic characteristics are true for all subjects with these symptoms or if they are found in a particular subgroup of patients who seek medical advice because, in fact, they are really ill. Multivariate analysis was used to evaluate the medical and psychologic status of 72 patients with IBS, 82 patients with symptoms suggestive of IBS but who did not seek medical advice, and 84 normal subjects. With regard to semeiologic differences according to whether patients sought medical advice or not, there were more subjects in the first group who complained of diarrhea and pain. Moreover, there were more patients with personality abnormalities, pathologic behaviour patterns, and a lower sensitivity to stress in subjects with IBS seeking medical advice than in those with symptoms who did not seek advice (p less than 0.001) or normal subjects (p less than 0.001). There were no significant differences between the subjects with symptoms but who do not seek medical advice and the normal subjects (p = 0.21).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)