How to Interpret the Bender-Gestalt as a Projective Test

The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test was developed in 1938 by child neuropsychiatrist Lauretta Bender. It is most often used to screen patients for cognitive impairment. Commonly referred to as the Bender or the Bender-Gestalt, the test is used by mental health professionals to examine a person's visual construction abilities. The subject is given a blank piece of paper and asked to reproduce nine designs. The designs are then scored for various criteria of accuracy. Projective tests use ambiguous stimuli, such as the designs presented in the Bender, to reveal unconscious emotions or issues.

Things You'll Need

• Results of the Bender-Gestalt
• Paper
• Pencil

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Instructions

• 1

  Examine the subject's responses. Look for oddities such as expansive designs, additions to the designs or clear changes to the designs.

• 2

  Note where the subject has pushed down very hard with the pencil or has heavily reinforced the designs. Look for excessively large or extremely small reproductions of the designs.

• 3

  Look for distortions in the designs, such as wavy lines in place of straight ones.

• 4

  On a separate piece of paper, record the various categories of design distortions. Compare the number of intact designs to the number of distorted designs. Note that a high amount of distortion is thought to indicate underlying emotional disturbances.