Socioemotional development in children with callous-unemotional traits: A case study of a multimodal intervention

Abstract

A subgroup of children with conduct disorder (CD) has callous unemotional traits (CU, e.g., lack of empathy, caring behaviours and remorse), which predicts a negative evolution of this disorder. Responses to empirically supported interventions are very low in children with CD and CU traits. This case study presents an individualized intervention with an 11-year-old child who shows a stable and aggressive pattern of disruptive behaviour (CD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and severe CU traits. The goals of the intervention focused on both emotion recognition and parent training. The results of the treatment presented in this case study show advances in socioemotional development along with a decrease of problematic conduct, which improve the child’s ability to adapt to his environment. The need of personalizing and adjusting treatments aimed at modifying problematic conduct in children with CU is discussed to shed light on future approaches to clinical intervention.