The Use of the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test with Substance Abuse Patients

The aim of this study was comparison of the function of patients with substance abuse disorder and normal individuals in Bender Gestalt Test. Two hundred volunteers (100 patients, 100 normals) were included in this research. The result showed that the clinical group has higher number of errors in Bender- Gestalt test than the non clinical group. This result can be explained in terms of several mechanisms including visual–perceptor, visual–motor deficits, attention and executive functions impairment (response inhibition & decision-making) and cognitive impulsivity. Other possible reason for this difference between the two groups is neuropsychological alterations prior to the drug use and the existence of neuropsychological impairments that are produced as a result of drug use.