Free tool for clinicians
Y-BOCS Calculator
Score the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale.
Enter your 10 item ratings and get the obsession and compulsion subscores, the total, and its severity range. Add the pretreatment total to see whether the change meets the consensus definitions of response and remission.
Rate each item from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme symptoms).
Use the questions and anchors on your copy of the Y-BOCS. The names below say what each item covers, over the past week.
Obsessions
Items 1-5
Compulsions
Items 6-10
Scoring example
A made-up client partway through treatment, who scored 28 before treatment.
| Subscale | Ratings | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Obsessions (items 1-5) | 3 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 | 11 |
| Compulsions (items 6-10) | 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 | 9 |
| Total | 20 | |
The copied result
Y-BOCS (past week): total 20/40. Obsessions 11/20, compulsions 9/20. Moderate range (14-25) on the Storch et al. (2015) benchmarks for treatment-seeking adults. Down 8 points (28%) from the pretreatment score of 28. A reduction of at least 25% but under 35% meets the Y-BOCS part of the consensus definition of partial response, which also needs a CGI-Improvement rating of at least 3 lasting at least a week.
How to score the Y-BOCS
The Y-BOCS is rated by the clinician, not the client, and covers the past week. Rate each of the 10 severity items from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme symptoms). The items rate severity, not content, so the same scale works whatever the obsessions and compulsions are about.
- Obsessions subscore
- Items 1-5, 0-20
- Compulsions subscore
- Items 6-10, 0-20
- Total
- All 10 items, 0-40
Each subscale rates the same five things in order: time spent, interference with functioning, distress, resistance, and degree of control. The scale also comes with a symptom checklist, which isn’t part of the score.
What the score means
Storch and colleagues (2015) set out to replace the severity thresholds in common use, which they note weren’t empirically based. In 954 treatment-seeking adults with OCD, they matched Y-BOCS totals to clinicians’ global severity ratings (CGI-Severity):
- 0-13
- Mild
- CGI-S 0-2
- 14-25
- Moderate
- CGI-S 3
- 26-34
- Moderate-severe
- CGI-S 4
- 35-40
- Severe
- CGI-S 5-6
These bands come from adults. Children and adolescents are rated with the Children’s Y-BOCS (CY-BOCS), so don’t apply them to CY-BOCS scores.
Response and remission
An international expert consensus (Mataix-Cols et al., 2016) defined these for OCD clinical trials. Each needs a Clinical Global Impression (CGI) rating as well as the Y-BOCS score, and has to last at least a week:
- Response: a 35% or greater drop from the pre-treatment score, plus a CGI-Improvement rating of 1 (very much improved) or 2 (much improved).
- Partial response: a drop of at least 25% but under 35%, plus a CGI-Improvement rating of at least 3 (minimally improved).
- Remission: no longer meeting criteria for OCD on a structured diagnostic interview. Where that isn’t feasible, a score of 12 or less plus a CGI-Severity rating of 1 (normal) or 2 (borderline).
The calculator checks the Y-BOCS part of each definition. The CGI rating and the time it has lasted are yours to add. Earlier work by Farris and colleagues (2013) points the same way: a drop of 35% or more best predicted response, and a score of 12 or less best predicted wellness.
Baseline and coding
Record a Y-BOCS before treatment starts as the baseline, then again during treatment. Response is measured against that pretreatment score.
DSM-5-TR codes obsessive-compulsive disorder to ICD-10 F42.2. For PTSD symptoms, the PCL-5 calculator scores the PTSD Checklist the same way.
Questions
What is the Y-BOCS?
The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale is a clinician-rated measure of how severe a client’s obsessive-compulsive symptoms are, whatever form the obsessions and compulsions take. It was published by Goodman and colleagues in 1989 and is the most commonly used measure of OCD severity. It covers the past week.
How is the Y-BOCS scored?
Rate 10 items from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme symptoms). Items 1-5 rate obsessions and items 6-10 rate compulsions, each on time, interference, distress, resistance and control. Each subscale runs from 0 to 20, and the total from 0 to 40. The symptom checklist that comes with the scale isn’t part of the score.
What Y-BOCS score is severe?
In a study of 954 treatment-seeking adults, Storch and colleagues (2015) matched Y-BOCS totals to clinician-rated global severity: 0-13 mild, 14-25 moderate, 26-34 moderate-severe, and 35-40 severe. They point out that the severity thresholds in common use before then weren’t empirically based.
What counts as a response to treatment on the Y-BOCS?
An international expert consensus (Mataix-Cols et al., 2016) defines response as a reduction of at least 35% from the pre-treatment score, plus a CGI-Improvement rating of 1 or 2, lasting at least a week. A 25% to 35% reduction with a CGI-Improvement rating of at least 3 is a partial response.
What Y-BOCS score means remission?
The same consensus defines remission as no longer meeting diagnostic criteria for OCD on a structured interview for at least a week. Where that isn’t feasible, it uses a Y-BOCS score of 12 or less plus a CGI-Severity rating of 1 or 2, lasting at least a week.
Can I use the Y-BOCS with children?
Children and adolescents are assessed with the Children’s Y-BOCS (CY-BOCS). The severity bands on this page come from a study of adults, so don’t apply them to CY-BOCS scores.
Why doesn’t this page show the Y-BOCS questions?
We don’t reproduce the Y-BOCS questions or rating anchors here. Rate each item from your copy of the scale, then enter the ratings. The item names on this page are short descriptions of what each one covers.
Is this Y-BOCS calculator private?
Yes. Scoring happens in your browser. Nothing you select is sent anywhere or saved, and it’s cleared when you leave the page.
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