Ontological Security Test

Designed for personal reflection, the Ontological Security Test contains 30 statements and takes about 6 minutes to complete. It explores how securely you experience yourself, relationships, independence, and the surrounding world, helping you notice patterns in authenticity, connection, confidence, and your everyday sense of belonging.

Questions: 306 minutes

Ontological Security Test: sample question card

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

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

False SelfFS

Measures the degree of ontological insecurity expressed as alienation and inauthentic or disconnected self-experience.

example score30/40

30/40Highexample score

8 – 18Low

19 – 29Moderate

30 – 40High

A score of 30 falls in the High range, suggesting a stronger tendency toward feeling disconnected from one’s authentic self and experiencing relationships or roles as less genuine.

AutonomyA

Assesses personal independence, self-directed decision-making, and a felt sense of being an autonomous individual.

example score11/35

11/35Low autonomyexample score

7 – 16Low autonomy

17 – 26Moderate autonomy

27 – 35High autonomy

A score of 11 falls in the Low autonomy range, suggesting autonomy and internal freedom may be experienced as limited or inconsistent in everyday choices.

Vital Interpersonal ContactVIC

Measures interest in other people, enjoyment of communication, and the ability to engage in trusting, dialogical relationships.

example score14/40

14/40Lowexample score

8 – 18Low

19 – 29Moderate

30 – 40High

A score of 14 falls in the Low range, suggesting currently limited enjoyment of communication and less developed or less accessible trusting social connections.

Vital Contact With the WorldVCWtW

Measures life satisfaction and the extent to which the world is experienced as a safe and reliable place.

example score15/35

15/35Low vital connectionexample score

7 – 16Low vital connection

17 – 25Moderate vital connection

26 – 35High vital connection

A score of 15 falls in the Low vital connection range, suggesting reduced life satisfaction and a less stable sense of safety and reliability in the surrounding world.

Overall Ontological SecurityOOS

Measures the degree to which a person experiences a stable sense of self while remaining openly connected with other people and the surrounding world.

example score60/102

60/102Moderateexample score

-18 – 22Low

23 – 62Moderate

63 – 102High

A score of 60 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a generally workable balance of autonomy and connectedness with some variability in how consistently this stability is felt.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Therapy and counseling clients

41%OF USERS

People in therapy who struggle with feeling secure in themselves while staying close and open to others use it to clarify inner stability and relationship patterns.

Coaching and self-growth seekers

34%OF USERS

Adults focused on personal development take it to understand how autonomy and connection affect their decisions, boundaries, and sense of direction.

Psychology students and trainees

25%OF USERS

Students and early-career specialists use it in learning or practice to quickly assess how someone experiences identity, safety, and openness to the world.

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

False SelfFS

You?

Average16.2

Typical rangeTypical10.5 – 21.9

Possible8 – 40

AutonomyA

You?

Average27.2

Typical rangeTypical23.5 – 30.8

Possible7 – 35

Vital Connections with PeopleVCwP

You?

Average26.5

Typical rangeTypical22.6 – 30.5

Possible8 – 40

Vital Connections with the WorldVCwtW

You?

Average20.4

Typical rangeTypical16.8 – 24.1

Possible7 – 35

Overall Measure of Ontological ConfidenceOMoOC

You?

Average64.7

Typical rangeTypical48.9 – 80.5

Possible-18 – 102

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Not true
- Mostly untrue
- Partly untrue
- Mostly true
- True
- Untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Partly untrue
- Mostly true
- True
- Untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Partly untrue
- Mostly true
- True

These are 3 of the 30 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Ontological Security Test - Description and methodology of the test

autonomy

existential psychology

fulfillment

People seeking a structured way to reflect on their inner experience may benefit from the Ontological Security Test, especially when they want a more organized view than free-form journaling provides. This questionnaire is an ontological security questionnaire that returns a profile across several areas rather than a single verdict. It can help readers identify which parts of their current experience deserve closer attention.

What This Assessment Explores

This ontological insecurity test organizes authenticity, agency, connection, and safety across self, relationships, and surroundings.

False Self (8-40): higher scores reflect insecurity, alienation, and possible fragmentation; Low 8-18, Moderate 19-29, High 30-40.
Autonomy (7-35): higher scores indicate independent decisions and internal freedom; Low autonomy 7-16, Moderate autonomy 17-26, High autonomy 27-35.
Vital Interpersonal Contact (8-40): higher scores indicate interest in others, dialogue, and trusting connection; Low 8-18, Moderate 19-29, High 30-40.
Vital Contact With the World (7-35): higher scores indicate life satisfaction, a reliable world, and safety; Low vital connection 7-16, Moderate vital connection 17-25, High vital connection 26-35.
Overall Ontological Security (-18-102): higher scores indicate greater autonomy, harmony, connectedness, and confidence in existence; Low -18-22, Moderate 23-62, High 63-102.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

The items are short first-person statements about self-experience, relationships, decisions, life satisfaction, and security. Most use five ordered choices from untrue to true, with intermediate options such as mostly or partly true. Positive and insecurity-focused statements both appear, asking how closely each fits the respondent.

Responses are grouped into thematic dimensions and an overall result. The questionnaire does not state item weighting or reverse-keying clearly enough to reconstruct point-by-point scoring, so ranges should not be used to infer how each answer contributes.

The conceptual basis is R. D. Laing's account of ontological security and insecurity, centered on a stable self, agency, and contact with reality and others. It is conceptually consistent with the OS (PM) psychometric method described by Kopteva in 2013, but is not a direct reproduction.

Read as an ontological security assessment, this result offers a snapshot of lived experience. The displayed bands should not be treated as established population norms or diagnostic thresholds; current context, self-awareness, and impression management can affect responses, so the result is best read as reflection rather than a clinical conclusion.

Author: R. D. Laing

Literature:

Kopteva, Natalia Vasil'evna, and Aleksej Yur'evich Kalugin. "Revisiting the Values Which Correspond to the Ontological Security." Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia, vol. 12, no. 1, 2015, pp. 815-822. 10.13005/bbra/1727.
Kopteva, Natalia Vasiljevna. "R. D. Laing's Conception of Ontological Insecurity-Security." Siberian Psychological Journal, no. 37, 2010, pp. 66-70.
Laing, R. D. The Divided Self: A Study of Sanity and Madness. Tavistock Publications, London, 1960.

Updated: 2025-10-02