The Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorder Scale: a new scale to assess eating disorder symptomatology

Anorectic and bulimic patients (n = 100) were interviewed using the Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorder Scale (YBC-EDS). All patients reported preoccupations and rituals related to their eating disorder ranging from mild to severe symptomatology, with mean scores in the moderate range. The preoccupations were more severe than the rituals; however, the rituals were still time-consuming, distressing, and interfered with functioning. Both preoccupations and rituals were largely ego syntonic. The YBC-EDS is an easy to administer interview which characterizes and quantifies preoccupations and rituals associated with eating disorders. It is useful both for research and clinical purposes.