A concept that explains psychosomatic symptoms as learned behavioral patterns through which a person learns to associate bodily reactions with certain emotional stimuli through conditioning mechanisms. For example, a patient may associate stressful and anxious situations with the occurrence of a headache or abdominal pain, and with repetition, this association becomes stable. The theory also suggests that symptoms may persist through reinforcement, as the patient may receive attention or sympathy from those around them because of their illness, which contributes to the persistence of symptoms. Therefore, therapeutic interventions based on this concept aim to restructure learning patterns and change a person’s responses to stress.