A Clinical Guide to Working with Youth with Conduct Disorders and Limited Prosocial Emotions

This practical guide provides clinicians with evidence-based tools and strategies to assess and treat children and adolescents with serious behavior problems who exhibit limited prosocial emotions (LPEs).
Extreme behavior problems in youth, while rare overall, have an outsized impact. These youth can cause tremendous harm to themselves, their peers, and even adults while also presenting as callous, unemotional, unremorseful, and unconcerned about the consequences of their actions. Without intervention, these children face increased risks of justice system involvement, school dropout, and serious mental health issues such as depression, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse that can continue into adulthood.
Youth with serious conduct problems pose distinct challenges for mental health professionals, particularly when accompanied by LPEs. To support clinicians, the authors offer a comprehensive framework for engaging families, conducting specialized assessments, and delivering targeted treatment. Readers will learn how to use tools such as the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits and the Clinical Assessment of Prosocial Emotions to evaluate the presence of LPE specifier, as defined by the DSM and the ICD. The book also presents multiple promising treatment methods, with a particular focus on an adapted version of parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) designed specifically for young children with callous–unemotional traits.
A detailed case example follows a 5-year-old Aboriginal boy and his mother, illustrating the full course of assessment, parent engagement, and intervention in the treatment of severe conduct problems with limited prosocial emotions.

Paul J. Frick, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and the Roy Crumpler memorial chair in Louisiana State University’s Department of Psychology. His research on how children develop disruptive behaviors has been widely cited and has influenced how behavior problems are diagnosed worldwide. Dr. Frick has also developed several measures to aid in the assessment and diagnosis of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems, which are used internationally in both research and practice and led him to receive the Bob Smith Excellence in Psychological Assessment Award from Division 53 of the American Psychological Association. Visit his website (https://www.lsu.edu/hss/psychology/faculty/clinical/frick.php).
Eva R. Kimonis, MS, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of New South Wales where she directs the Parent-Child Research Clinic that provides state-of-the-art assessment and treatment for children with conduct problems. Dr. Kimonis has published widely on the development, assessment, and treatment of childhood conduct disorders and psychopathic traits. She received the Eric Taylor Translational Research Into Practice Award from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and a prestigious Fulbright Award from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Visit her website (https://www.conductproblems.com/) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/parentchildresearchclinic) and X (@PCITunsw).