Modified satiation reducing ruminative vomiting without excessive weight gain

Abstract

Satiation procedures involving increased food intake recently have been used to reduce rates of ruminative vomiting in mentally retarded children. Use of these nonaversive intervention procedures has been limited almost exclusively to clients who are seriously underweight since excessive weight gain is a common side effect. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether modified satiation, provided by unlimited quantities of low calorie foods, could decelerate ruminative vomiting to clinically acceptable rates without producing undesirable weight gain. The two subjects were a severely mentally retarded man and a profoundly mentally retarded woman whose histories of ruminative vomiting were extensive but whose body weights were within their ideal ranges. A multiple-baseline-across-subjects combined with a withdrawal design demonstrated significant reductions in both subjects' rates of ruminative vomiting while their body weights remained within the middle of their ideal weight ranges. The results are discussed in terms of their clinical utility and the need for future analyses of the critical components of food satiation techniques.