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Description: From the late 19th century, both the role and the influence of psychological factors on persistent somatic symp-toms (PSS) have been subject to debate. Since DSM-5 and the shift in paradigm away from medical explainability of somatic symptoms, the former category of somatoform disorders now puts psychological criteria in the diagnostic focus. However, both the wording in the diagnostic criteria for somatic symptom disorder (DSM-5) and bodily distress disorder (ICD-11) remain vague. DMS-5 includes “disproportionate and persistent thoughts about the seriousness of one’s symptoms”, “persistently high level of anxiety about health or symptoms”, and “excessive time and energy devoted to these symptoms or health concerns” as diagnostic criteria. ICD-11 states that for diagnosis “excessive attention, which may be manifest by repeated contact with health care providers” has to be present, and that “associated distress and preoccupation” lead to functional impairment. To many experts in the field, these criteria were dissatisfactory. Looking into the literature, a large number of possible psychological criteria for PSS have been proposed and investigated in research throughout the years. Still, there is no systematic overview on their empirical evidence available. The main goal of our systematic review is thus to extract all psychological factors that have been proposed in research, and to evaluate their empirical relevance regarding the development of PSS as well as their diagnostic value. Published Article: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1142484/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Psychiatry&id=1142484