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The OCI-R is one of the most widely used self-report OCD measures. Eighteen items, six 3-item subscales each mapping to a distinct OCD symptom dimension. It’s the natural choice when you suspect OCD or an OC-spectrum presentation and you want both a severity number and a profile of which symptom clusters are dominant. The dimension profile matters for treatment planning — washing-heavy presentations and checking-heavy presentations both score the same on a single-number measure but call for very different ERP (Exposure and Response Prevention) hierarchies.

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What it measures

OCD symptoms across six 3-item subscales: Subscale cutoffs from Abramowitz & Deacon (2006). Each item is rated 0–4 (Not at all / A little / Moderately / A lot / Extremely) over the past month. The total is the sum across all 18 items, range 0–72.

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When to send it

  • OCD differential screening — particularly when symptoms might be confused with GAD, social anxiety, or trauma-related avoidance
  • Pre/post for ERP protocols
  • Tracking which symptom dimensions respond to treatment (the dimension profile often changes faster than the total)
  • 4–6 week intervals during active OCD treatment
The 18 items take about 5 minutes. Async administration works well; the 1-month time frame means you don’t need it in the room.

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Scoring and severity cutoffs

Sum of 18 items, range 0–72. The total cutoff for probable OCD is ≥21 (Foa 2002). The six subscale scores (each 0–12) and total surface in the live-scoring pill the moment your client submits, with the above-cutoff dimensions labeled. This is Rivet’s first 6-subscale instrument — the pattern matches DASS-21 (3 subscales) and PCL-5 (4 clusters + total) but with more dimensions.

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OCI-R vs Y-BOCS

The client fills in the OCI-R; you rate the Y-BOCS in a structured interview. Beyond that, they answer different questions. The OCI-R tells you which symptoms are present, across six dimensions — washing, checking, ordering, obsessing, hoarding, neutralizing. That profile is what orients exposure and response prevention: it tells you what to build the hierarchy around. The Y-BOCS tells you how bad it is, by rating time spent, interference, distress, resistance and control for obsessions and compulsions separately. It is the severity measure the treatment literature uses, with response conventionally defined as a 35% drop. So: OCI-R at assessment to map the picture and as a self-report tracker between sessions, Y-BOCS when you need a defensible severity number or are measuring response to ERP or medication.

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Is it free to use?

Yes. Free clinical use, per Foa and colleagues.

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Citation

Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., Leiberg, S., Langner, R., Kichic, R., Hajcak, G., & Salkovskis, P. M. (2002). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14(4), 485–496. Subscale cutoffs: Abramowitz, J. S., & Deacon, B. J. (2006). Psychometric properties and construct validity of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory—Revised: Replication and extension with a clinical sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 20(8), 1016–1035. Free clinical use; the verbatim canonical wording is preserved.

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When not to use it

The OCI-R is a symptom-severity measure, not a diagnostic interview. A score above cutoff supports the OCD picture but doesn’t replace the clinical interview, particularly when the differential includes trauma- related ritualistic behaviour, autism-spectrum restricted patterns, or psychotic-spectrum intrusive thoughts. For trauma-related symptoms in the differential, pair with the PCL-5.

GAD-7

The 7-item generalized anxiety screen — often part of an OCD differential panel.

PCL-5

The 20-item PTSD checklist — for the trauma-related differential.