The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) assesses OCD severity. A score of ≥16 indicates clinically significant OCD. A score of 0–7 is considered remission. What is the minimum score reduction considered a treatment 'response'?

• A 10% reduction
• B 25% reduction
• C 50% reduction
• D 35% reduction ✓

Explanation

The Y-BOCS is a 10-item clinician-administered scale (0–40) assessing obsession and compulsion severity (time, interference, distress, resistance, control). A ≥35% reduction in Y-BOCS score is conventionally defined as a treatment response in OCD clinical trials, distinguishing it from other conditions where 50% is often used as a response threshold. This lower threshold is used because OCD is often chronic and complete remission is less common; a 35% reduction represents clinically meaningful improvement. Remission is typically defined as Y-BOCS ≤12.

Reference: Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.

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