Home1
Psychological tests2
Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ)3

Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ) Test

Understand how strongly you experience anxiety around meaning, mortality, and choice in about 3 minutes. This 13 item tool gives clear results to guide focus in counseling and track change over time.

Start Online Test

Questions: 133 minutes

08:30

September 1, 2026

September 1, 2026
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

19,725 views

1,497 completions

1,187 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

1/4

Guilt and Fear of Judgment (GaFoJ)

Measures anxiety linked to feelings of guilt and fear of being judged that can challenge a person’s sense of moral self-worth.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 1: Low | 2 – 3: Moderate | 4: High

A score of 1 suggests low anxiety around guilt and judgment, indicating these concerns are present but not strongly distressing or central right now.

example score

2/4

Emptiness and Lack of Meaning (EaLoM)

Measures anxiety associated with feeling empty and perceiving life as lacking meaning.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 1: Low | 2 – 3: Moderate | 4: High

A score of 2 indicates a moderate level of anxiety related to emptiness and reduced sense of meaning, suggesting some internal tension in this area.

example score

2/5

Fate and Death (FaD)

Measures anxiety related to fate and the inevitability of death and how strongly these themes challenge one’s sense of existence.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 1: Low | 2 – 3: Moderate | 4 – 5: High

A score of 2 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not overwhelming level of concern about mortality and finiteness.

example score

5/13

Existential Anxiety (EA)

This scale measures the overall intensity of anxiety related to existential themes such as meaning, mortality, freedom of choice, and guilt.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 4: Low | 5 – 9: Moderate | 10 – 13: High

A score of 5 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not overwhelming level of existential worry or tension around fundamental life questions.

Start Online Test

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

People in life transitions

41%OF USERS

They are facing big changes (loss, breakup, moving, career shift) and want to understand why fears about meaning, choice, or mortality feel stronger lately.

Clients with vague anxiety

34%OF USERS

They feel persistent tension or emptiness without a clear trigger and use the questionnaire to see whether existential themes are driving their distress.

Therapy-focused self-explorers

25%OF USERS

They like structured reflection and take the test to clarify personal values, responsibility, and inner conflicts and to track changes over time.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Guilt and Judgment (GaJ)

Average

Normal range

1.4 — 2.7

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Emptiness and the Absence of Meaning (EatAoM)

Average

Normal range

2.3 — 3.7

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Fate and Death (FaD)

Average

1.6

Normal range

0.9 — 2.3

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Existential anxiety (Ea)

Average

8.5

Normal range

6.2 — 10.8

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Start Online Test

Featured On

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Yes
- No
- Yes
- No
- Yes
- No

These are 3 of the 13 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

Start Online Test

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ) Test - Symptoms and Signs

existential psychology

attitude toward death

uneasiness

This self-report measure assesses distress and concern related to core existential themes. The Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ) is intended to help clinicians and researchers quantify the intensity of anxiety associated with meaning, mortality, freedom, and responsibility. It was developed by Weems, C.

The instrument consists of 13 items and typically requires about 3 minutes to complete. Items sample common domains of existential anxiety (e.g., death-related concerns, uncertainty, emptiness, and responsibility for choices), supporting a brief screening of these experiences in clinical or counseling contexts.

Scores from the Existential Anxiety Questionnaire (EAQ) may be used to inform case conceptualization and to monitor change over time, alongside clinical interview and other assessment data. As with other brief self-report tools, results should be interpreted in context and are not a standalone diagnostic indicator.

Author: Weems, C.

Literature: Weems, C. F., Costa, N. M., Dehon, C., & Berman, S. L. Paul Tillich’s theory of existential anxiety: A preliminary conceptual and empirical analysis. Anxiety, Stress & Coping. 2004.