Meaning in Life Questionnaire
Existential distress and the loss of purpose often underlie clinical presentations of depression, anxiety, and profound life transitions.
- Questions
- 10
- Duration
- 5 min
- Original title
- MLQ — Meaning in Life Questionnaire
- Adaptation
- Meaning in Life Questionnaire
- Authors
- Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M.
- Created
- 2006
Existential distress and the loss of purpose often underlie clinical presentations of depression, anxiety, and profound life transitions. The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) offers clinicians a validated, reliable instrument to bring this vital but elusive construct into the treatment room. By uncoupling the feeling of having purpose from the drive to seek it, the MLQ provides a nuanced map of a patient's existential landscape.
Integrating this measure helps shift the therapeutic focus from simple symptom reduction toward finding personal meaning and direction. Whether working in logotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or general supportive care, clinicians can use the MLQ to track changes in existential well-being over time. This ongoing measurement ensures that efforts to discover your core values genuinely translate into a more anchored, fulfilling daily life for the patient.
Example result
Fictitious result, computed from a sample set of answers.
Have your patient take this test
Assign it in one click: your patient answers on their phone, you receive the score and its interpretation.
What the test measures
The MLQ captures two distinct dimensions of a person's relationship with existential significance, rather than treating meaning as a single global trait.
- Presence of meaning: The extent to which an individual currently perceives their life as having significance, coherence, and a clear overarching mission.
- Search for meaning: The degree of active engagement and motivation invested in seeking out or deepening one's understanding of life's purpose.
- Existential clarity: The subjective feeling of knowing what makes one's existence important, independently from external validation or borrowed societal scripts.
This instrument is primarily designed for adult populations to evaluate how they orient themselves toward setting life goals and deriving purpose from their everyday experiences.
When and why to use it
Clinicians typically introduce the MLQ when patients report feeling adrift, unmotivated, or disconnected from their previous sources of identity.
- Intake baseline: To evaluate a patient's existential foundation at the start of therapy, highlighting whether distress stems from a lack of purpose or an exhausting, unfulfilled search.
- Navigating life transitions: To monitor shifts in meaning during major changes like retirement, bereavement, or chronic illness diagnosis, often supported by exercises that clarify valued domains.
- Evaluating ACT outcomes: To measure progress when building psychological flexibility, tracking how well patients connect with chosen directions rather than merely avoiding distress.
- Monitoring existential therapies: To quantify the impact of meaning-making interventions over time, ensuring the therapeutic dialogue translates into lived significance.
A validated score provides a structured vocabulary for these deep existential questions, offering a reliable metric that complements clinical impression and helps guide goal-setting and motivation.
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Access all the toolsThe questions
- Please take a moment to think about what makes your life feel important to you. Please respond to the following statements as truthfully and accurately as you can, and also please remember that these are very subjective questions and that there are no right or wrong answers. Please answer according to the 1-7 scale below:1. I understand the meaning of my life.Assesses the patient's cognitive grasp on the overarching significance of their own existence.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 2. I am looking for something that gives my life meaning.Explores the active pursuit of new sources of significance or emotional fulfillment.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 3. I am always searching for my life's purpose.Probes the continuous, perhaps restless, nature of the patient's existential quest.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 4. My life has a clear purpose.Evaluates the subjective feeling of having a distinct and guiding life mission.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 5. I have a good sense of what makes my life meaningful.Checks if the patient can identify the specific elements or values that anchor their existence.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 6. I have discovered a satisfying life purpose.Measures whether the patient has successfully found a direction that provides them with lasting contentment.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 7. I am always searching for something that makes my life feel important.Identifies an ongoing drive to attach weight and importance to one's daily life.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 8. I am seeking a purpose or mission for my life.Looks at the explicit desire to define a broader calling or personal trajectory.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 9. My life has no clear purpose.Reversely captures the experience of existential void or a lack of guiding direction.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
- 10. I am searching for meaning in my life.Directly questions the patient's current engagement in the process of meaning-making.
- Absolutely untrue
- Mostly untrue
- Somewhat untrue
- Cannot say (neither true nor false)
- Somewhat true
- Mostly true
- Absolutely true
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