The published literature on behavioral treatments of rumination is reviewed, and new case material on two recently reported procedures is presented. Rumination, a medical condition of infancy involving repeated regurgitation of previously ingested food, has historically been treated from a psychodynamic approach involving extended in‐patient treatment by mother surrogates. This procedure is both time‐consuming and very costly. The initial behavioral approach involved electric shock. Single‐case studies reflect the utility of this procedure, but widespread resistance to this form of punishment makes this a difficult procedure to utilize. More recent behavioral procedures reported in single‐case studies have included delivering aversive taste stimuli as consequences for ruminating. This procedure has met with mixed success, and has the added drawback of being difficult to implement technically and because of staff resistance. A combination of punishment by scolding, time‐out, and reinforcement of retaining the food constitutes a useful alternative. This procedure has the added advantage of being more acceptable to staff and implementable at home. The possibility of individual differences among ruminators that might predict success is also raised.

144 boys and girls in Grades 2 and 6 were presented a 2-choice simultaneous brightness-discrimination task. Ss were either verbally reinforced for correct responses (Rn), verbally punished for incorrect responses (Wn), or verbally reinforced for correct and punished for incorrect responses (RW). Two levels of task complexity defined as the number of irrelevant stimulus dimensions were utilized. Regardless of Ss' sex, age, or the complexity of the task, the Rn combination produced significantly slower learning than did the nearly equivalent Wn and RW combinations. The simple task was learned significantly more rapidly than the complex task.

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The present article describes a behavioral formulation and treatment in the case of an 11-year-old boy who developed intense leg and back pain subsequent to an athletic accident. Social reinforcement was provided for improved motor functions and reduced pain reports; and self-control strategies were used to counter the stigmatizing implications of the psychological diagnosis. Suggestions are offered for dealing with parental beliefs in the equation that “psychogenic symptom equals badness and stubborness.”

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