  We analyse the phenomenology of a self-interacting scalar field in the
context of the chameleon scenario originally proposed by Khoury and Weltman. In
the absence of self-interactions, this type of scalar field can mediate long
range interactions and simultaneously evade constraints from violation of the
weak equivalence principle. By applying to such a scalar field the effective
field theory method proposed for Einstein gravity by Goldberger and Rothstein,
we give a thorough perturbative evaluation of the importance of non-derivative
self-interactions in determining the strength of the chameleon mediated force
in the case of orbital motion. The self-interactions are potentially dangerous
as they can change the long range behaviour of the field. Nevertheless, we show
that they do not lead to any dramatic phenomenological consequence with respect
to the linear case and solar system constraints are fulfilled.
