OCD scale

Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

Main reference: Goodman WK, Price LH, Rasmussen SA, et al.: The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, I: development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry 46:1006-1011, 1989a.

Type: Clinician-rated scale.

Main indications: Designed to rate the severity and type of symptoms in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Rating performed by: Clinician or trained mental health professional, based on the information generated during the interview, which is preceded by a symptom checklist that is used to identify the content of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Interviewer then asks the subject to identify the three obsessions and compulsions that are most distressing and to focus on them during the Y-BOCS interview, which thus assesses the severity of the symptoms.

Time period covered by scale: Prior week up until and including the time of the interview.

Time required to complete rating: Approx. 30 minutes. Semi-structured interview.

Remarks: Has become the gold standard for assessing obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Well suited for assessing the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and for monitoring change with treatment. Is divided into two subscales: the Obsessions subscale and the Compulsions subscale. Is not a diagnostic instrument.