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3.5 TheMinnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Existential Vacuum Scale
Hutzell andPeterson (1985:97-100) have developed this scale (the EVS). It is a
screening device whose function is to detect groups ofpeople,with or withoutexis­
tential vacuum, who have completed the MMPI. The Existential Vacuum Scaleis
based on Frankl's concept ofexistential vacuum whilethe MMPI is the most fre­
quently used psychological test ofpersonality (Guttmann 1996:186).
This scaleconsistsof13 itemswhere each itemis scored eitherwith a "F' (false)or a
''T' (true). High scoresof6 to 11 indicatethe presence ofexistential vacuum, low
scores of0 to 1 indicate the absence ofthis state, and 2 to 5 shows uncertainty. This
scale was developed in the lightofthe MMPI and the logotherapeutic PIL-test and is
used not independently fromthe morewell knownMMPI and PIL-tests(Guttmann
1996:186-189). Infact, it complements the MMPI.
The existential vacuum originates becausepeoplehave often lost their instinctswhich
give themsecurity intheir behavior, and also because they have lost the traditions
whichguided their behaviorin the past (Crumbaugh & Henrion1988:106). This
vacuum manifests itselfmainly in boredom, but Franklhas pointedout that there are
manymasks aud guises underwhichit appears. Thispractically means thatthere is
no measuring instrument thatcan measure all the guises underwhich this
phenomenon is hiding. This also binds the EVS.
In criticizing the EVS, psychoanalytical approaches again wouldpoint out that this
scale does not take the past history, that influences the individual, into serious ac­
count. It appearsthat Iogotherapists do not reallytake the past seriously. This of
coursehas to do withtheir beliefthat man has the abilityto transcend and that no past
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