A SEVERITY RATING-SCALE FOR BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER - DEVELOPMENT, RELIABILITY, AND VALIDITY OF A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE YALE-BROWN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE SCALE

The authors developed the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Modifi ed for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDDYBOCS), a 12-item semistructured c linician-rated instrument designed to rate severity of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). The scale was administered to 125 subjects with BDD, and interviews with 15 subjects were rated by 3 other raters. Test-ret est reliability was assessed in 30 subjects. Other scales were adminis tered to assess convergent and discriminant validity, and sensitivity to change was evaluated in a study of fluvoxamine. Each item was frequ ently endorsed across a range of severity. Good interrater reliability , test-retest reliability, and internal consistency were obtained. BDD -YBOCS scores correlated with global severity scores but not with a me asure of general psychopathology; they were modestly positively correl ated with depression severity scores. Three factors accounted for 59.6 percent of the variance. The scale was sensitive to change in BDD sev erity. The BDD-YBOCS appears to be a reliable and valid measure of BDD severity and is a suitable outcome measure in treatment studies of BD D.