Frankie Says Don't Worry About Your YBOCS Score

I went to see my doctor at AustinOCD today. Every time I go into the office, he asks me to fill out the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Commonly known as YBOCS, the scale uses a 40-point, standardized questionnaire in order to diagnose the severity of one's OCD. A score of 40 indicates the most severe symptoms,  and 0 the least.

So, during every visit to the doctor's office I re-take the survey. At my first visit to AustinOCD, I scored a 29. During today's meeting, my doctor told me that my score had dropped with each visit. Last week I was at a 26, and this week I scored 24. Because the changes with OCD recovery are so small and incremental, it's sometimes hard to tell if I am, indeed, getting better. But my YBOCS score is going down little by little. And that's a really good sign.

After we talked about my improving YBOCS score, Dr. M pointed out that despite my quickening progress, he had recorded in his notes: "She's concerned she's not doing enough work to get better." I'm assuming that this mental self-flagellation is due in part to my training in graduate school. As an academic, there are no boundaries on when and where you're supposed to work, so I usually find myself thinking "I should be working right now" during most hours of the day. Apparently this all-work-and-no-play mentality has shifted to my health! I need to learn to relax.