Behavioral treatment of psychogenic polydipsia.

This report describes the behavioral treatment of psychogenic polydipsia in an autistic, severely mentally retarded woman who had a history of self-induced water intoxication. Treatment emphasized the use of edibles and reductions in activity demands to reward water refusal. Employing this procedure, paraprofessional staff normalized the client's water consumption, and thereby prevented further episodes of potentially-fatal water intoxication.