Sigbert Josef Maria Ganser

Sigbert Josef Maria Ganser (January 24, 1853 - January 4, 1931 was a German psychiatrist born in Rhaunen. He earned his medical doctorate in 1876 from the University of Munich. Afterwards he worked briefly at a psychiatric clinic in Würzburg, and later as an assistant to neuroanatomist Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886) in Munich. In 1886 he became a professor at the University of Dresden, and also head of the psychiatric department at Dresden General Hospital.

Sigbert Ganser is remembered for a factitious disorder that he first described in 1898. He discovered the disorder in three prisoners while working at a prison in Halle. The features included approximate or nonsensical answers to simple questions, perceptual abnormalities and clouding of consciousness. Ganzer believed that these symptoms were an associative reaction caused by an unconscious attempt by the patient to escape from an intolerable mental situation. This disorder was to become known as Ganser syndrome.

Written works:
 * Über einen eigenartigen hysterischen Dämmerzustand Archiv für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Berlin, 1898, 30: 633-640

External Link:
 * Discussion of Ganser Syndrome