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Existential Crisis Experience Scale3

Existential Crisis Experience Scale Test

Explore your experience of existential crisis with the Existential Crisis Experience Scale Test, a 36-question self-report assessment completed in about 7 minutes. Its profile highlights emotional suffering, vulnerability, loneliness, dissatisfaction with present life, self-dissatisfaction, and attitudes toward trust and closeness in relationships, offering a structured starting point for personal reflection.

Questions: 367 minutes

Existential Crisis Experience Scale Test: sample question card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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3,542 completions

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Despair, Suffering, and GuiltDSaG

Measures the intensity of hopelessness, emotional suffering, and guilt feelings that can accompany an existential crisis.

example score1/12

1/12Elevatedexample score

-12 – -6Low

-5 – 0Moderate

1 – 12Elevated

A score of 1 falls in the Elevated range, suggesting some increased feelings of despair, emotional strain, or guilt, though not necessarily at a severe level.

InsecurityI

Measures the degree of felt vulnerability and defenselessness associated with limited perceived social support.

example score-7/12

-7/12Low vulnerabilityexample score

-12 – -6Low vulnerability

-5 – 0Moderate vulnerability

1 – 12High vulnerability

A score of -7 falls in the Low vulnerability range, suggesting relatively little sense of defenselessness and a comparatively stable perception of support.

LonelinessL

Measures the degree of perceived separateness, isolation, and feeling misunderstood or undervalued by others.

example score-1/12

-1/12Moderate lonelinessexample score

-12 – -6Low loneliness

-5 – 0Moderate loneliness

1 – 12High loneliness

A score of -1 falls in the Moderate loneliness range, suggesting occasional feelings of being on a different wavelength from others without strong, persistent isolation.

Dissatisfaction With One's Present LifeDWOPL

Measures the degree of emotional dissatisfaction and rejection toward one’s current life circumstances across key domains such as relationships, work, finances, and personal interests.

example score3/12

3/12Elevated dissatisfactionexample score

-12 – -6Low dissatisfaction

-5 – 0Moderate dissatisfaction

1 – 12Elevated dissatisfaction

A score of 3 falls in the Elevated dissatisfaction range, suggesting notable aversion or discontent with the present situation in one or more life areas.

Self-DissatisfactionSD

Measures the degree of negative self-evaluation and dissatisfaction with oneself across perceived appearance, actions, and abilities.

example score9/12

9/12High dissatisfactionexample score

-12 – -6Low dissatisfaction

-5 – 0Moderate dissatisfaction

1 – 12High dissatisfaction

A score of 9 falls in the High dissatisfaction range, suggesting strong unpleasant perceptions about oneself and perceived difficulty meeting personal standards.

Meaninglessness of Social RelationshipsMoSR

Measures the extent to which a person devalues close, trusting relationships and views social contact as unhelpful, unsafe, or lacking warmth and empathy.

example score7/12

7/12Highexample score

-12 – -6Low

-5 – 0Moderate

1 – 12High

A score of 7 falls in the High range, suggesting a pronounced tendency to view social connections as lacking value and to perceive others as insufficiently warm or overly intrusive.

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Feeling Empty and Stuck

41%OF USERS

People who feel persistent emptiness, lack of meaning, or emotional numbness and want to understand how intense it is.

Life Transition Questioners

34%OF USERS

Those facing big changes (breakup, burnout, graduation, relocation, loss) who are questioning their direction, values, or purpose.

Therapy and Progress Trackers

25%OF USERS

Clients in counseling or research participants who want clear numbers to monitor hopelessness, isolation, and life dissatisfaction 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.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Despair, suffering, and guiltDsag

You?

Average-4.2

Typical rangeTypical-7.2 – -1.3

Possible-12 – 12

VulnerabilityV

You?

Average-3.8

Typical rangeTypical-8.1 – 0.5

Possible-12 – 12

LonelinessL

You?

Average-1.7

Typical rangeTypical-4.8 – 1.3

Possible-12 – 12

Dissatisfaction with your presentDwyp

You?

Average-3.7

Typical rangeTypical-7.8 – 0.4

Possible-12 – 12

Dissatisfaction with OneselfDwO

You?

Average0.6

Typical rangeTypical-3.2 – 4.4

Possible-12 – 12

The Meaninglessness of Social ConnectionsTMoSC

You?

Average5.8

Typical rangeTypical2.9 – 8.8

Possible-12 – 12

Featured On

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Strongly agree
- Somewhat agree
- Unsure
- Somewhat disagree
- Strongly disagree
- Strongly agree
- Somewhat agree
- Not sure
- Somewhat disagree
- Completely disagree
- Strongly agree
- Somewhat agree
- Unsure
- Somewhat disagree
- Strongly disagree

These are 3 of the 36 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Existential Crisis Experience Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test

existential psychology

life crisis

People who feel overwhelmed by difficult emotions, disappointed by their circumstances, or uncertain about their place in relationships may use this assessment to organize those experiences. The Existential Crisis Experience Scale Test helps respondents see which areas currently deserve reflection and consider how these experiences fit together. This existential crisis self-assessment offers a structured starting point for that reflection.

What This Assessment Explores

The questions examine emotions, self-view, relationships, and life circumstances. Items address guilt, hopelessness, limited support, social disconnection, and devaluing trust or closeness, including communication perceived as lacking warmth or empathy, or as aggressive or intrusive. Purpose-related statements are themes, not a general-purpose measure of existential distress.

The dimensions and bands are:

Despair, Suffering, and Guilt (-12-12) shows Low (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or Elevated (1-12) distress.
Insecurity (-12-12) shows Low vulnerability (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or High (1-12).
Loneliness (-12-12) shows Low (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or High (1-12).
Dissatisfaction With One's Present Life (-12-12) shows Low (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or Elevated (1-12).
Self-Dissatisfaction (-12-12) shows Low (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or High (1-12).
Meaninglessness of Social Relationships (-12-12) shows Low (-12--6), Moderate (-5-0), or High (1-12) attitudes toward trust and closeness.

Methodology and Evidence Base

The example statements use a five-point agreement response, from Strongly agree through an uncertain middle option to Strongly disagree. The result is dimensional: scores are reported separately across the six scales, with interpretation bands displayed in the results. The exact point contribution of each response is not stated for this version, so totals should be interpreted through those bands rather than reverse-engineered.

Its conceptual lens is consistent with existential psychology, bringing together concerns about meaning, isolation, belonging, freedom, responsibility, identity, and difficult emotions. More specifically, the questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the published Experience of Existential Crisis Questionnaire (Yanysheva & Senkevich, 2021), but this online version is not presented as an adaptation of that source instrument.

Published work on the source questionnaire reports item-scale coherence, retest stability, and convergent relationships with meaningful-life measures. In practical terms, this online existential crisis profile offers a focused snapshot rather than a universal or clinical verdict: scores may shift with current circumstances, depend on honest self-report and self-awareness, and cannot alone explain causes or establish norms for this online version.

Author: Irvin D. Yalom, James C. Coyne

Literature:

Yanysheva, Vera Aleksandrovna, and Lyudmila Viktorovna Senkevich. “The Questionnaire ‘The Experience of Existential Crisis’: A Short Version.” Systems Psychology and Sociology, no. 1 (37), 2021, pp. 95-108. 10.25688/2223-6872.2021.37.1.8
Senkevich, Lyudmila Viktorovna. “The Questionnaire ‘The Experience of Existential Crisis’: The First Stage of Approbation.” Systems Psychology and Sociology, vol. 4, no. 16, 2015, pp. 46-54.
Senkevich, Lyudmila Viktorovna. “Phenomenological and Process Dynamic Characteristics of Existential Identity Crisis.” Global Media Journal, special issue 2, 2016, article 19.

Updated: 2025-10-02