OBJECTIVE Anger is strongly associated with the coping style, personality, interpersonal conflicts and quality of life. Increased research is being focused on the negative impact of anger on irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Certain psychological areas such as anger have not been investigated in Romanian patients. The present study aims to determine the basal differences in experiencing anger between IBS patients and controls. METHODS We examined the State-Trait anger in 60 subjects with IBS and 45 controls. The socio-demographic data and the State-Trait Anger Inventory were administered in individual sessions. RESULTS evidenced that the IBS group had high mean scores for trait anger. No significant differences between the groups were detected on state anger. CONCLUSIONS Higher levels of trait anger characterize IBS patients when compared to controls and this may be associated with symptoms. These findings are discussed within the context of other data suggesting that trait anger contributes to development and evolution of IBS, perhaps through modulation of the colonic motor activity.