Comparison of Ccognitive Ffunctions of Ppatients with Ssubstance Ddependency and Nnormal Ppeople in WAIS Ssubscales

Abstract Background and aims: One of the most important sides affects effects of substance abuse and dependency is brain dysfunction, especially abnormality in cognitive activities. This study was established conducted to compare the functions of patients with substance dependency with normal populationpeople. Methods: In this study, 50 patients with substance dependency were selected, using easy sampling method and same amountnumber of people were selected as the control group, using neighborhood area sampling. The WAIS scale was used for assessingment the functions of both groups in cognitive activities. The data were analyzed, using SSPS SPSS statistical software, version 17. Results: In all of the WAIS subscales (only Digit span), functions of the patient group were significantly less than the normal group. The means and standard deviations of verbal, performance and total IQs in of the normal group were 39./38±7/56, 85./38±8./38, 83./18±9./51 respectively and 32./22±6./91, 76./54±6./91 and 75./66±7./6 in the patients group. Conclusion : The results showed that dependency to substance could affect the function of patients in cognitive performances. Key words: addiction, substance dependency, cognitive functions, WAI