[The Yale-Brown Scale: instrument for assessing the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorders]

The paper presents characteristics and evaluation of the Yale-Brown Scale, its clinical value in assessing severity of obsessive compulsive disorders. The Yale-Brown Scale is a semistructured interview. The scale consists of 10 items, rated from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme symptoms). There are separate ratings for severity of obsessions and compulsions. The assessment of items is based on the patient's report and the clinician's observations gained during the interview. The studies indicate that the Yale-Brown Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing severity of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. This instrument is sensitive enough to changes in symptoms severity; thus, it permits to analyse the efficacy of treatment of OCD. The fact that the total score is not determined by the type of obsessive compulsive symptoms, permits to compare the symptoms severity in patients with different types of obsessions and compulsions and it is suitable to assess the efficacy of treatment of different types of obsessive compulsive disorder.