It is characterized by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions or doing things incorrectly, other dissociative symptoms such as fugue, amnesia or conversion disorder, often with visual pseudohallucinations and a decreased state of consciousness. Pennsylvania had the highest population of ganser families in 1840. He didnt really look into how they were being treated in prison. Gansers syndrome is a rare and controversial condition, whose main and most striking feature is the production of approximate answers or near misses to very simple questions.
Ganser described the syndrome after studying the behaviour of three inmates of a prison and thus it has acquired the synonym prison psychosis. M mary in this case history, which shows the clinical features of the ganser syndrome. Gansers syndrome in 1897, the neurologist sigbert ganser first described the syndrome that bears his name while working at a penal institution in halle, germany. Ganser syndrome is generally considered rare, but estimates of its prevalence depend upon the strictness of the diagnostic criteria used in reporting it haddad, 1993. It is a relatively new diagnosis in the field of autism. Majority of individuals with ganser syndrome act as if they have schizophrenia and show symptoms of it. Ganser syndrome article about ganser syndrome by the. Ekbom 1938 described eight patients with the delusional conviction that they were infested with small organisms such as mites or insects, a condition he called. It is named for a german psychiatrist named sigbert ganser, who first described it in 1898 from an examination of male prisoners who were thought to be psychotic. Ganser syndrome is a dissociative disorder that was previously thought to be a factitious disorder, where the patient displays symptoms of a physical or mental illness when no real condition is present. A study investigating the neurological basis of ganser syndrome, described a patient with symptoms of the disorder who had a history of stroke and bifrontal infarcts. Ganser syndrome and lesion in the temporoparietal region. Sigbert ganser first described the syndrome while working at a penal institution in halle, germany.
It is characterized by the individual mimicking behavior they think is typical of a psychosis. Factitious disorders or ganser syndrome personality. They proposed that the ganser syndrome was a reaction io intolerable stress with a feeling of utter hopelessness. It is characterized by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions or doing things incorrectly, other dissociative symptoms such as fugue, amnesia or conversion disorder, often with visual hallucinations and a decreased state of consciousness.
Pdf neuropsychological presentation of ganser symptoms. The american civil war 18611865 and the francoprussian war 18701871 mark the start of formal medical attempts to address the problems of military veterans exposed to combat. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes. A historical sketch and fuller description of the syndrome will help in. It was named in honor of hans asperger 190680, who was an austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician. The ganser syndrome in two adolescent brothers sciencedirect. Ganser syndrome is a rare dissociative disorder previously classified as a factitious disorder.
There are episodic reports in the literature of ganser syndrome in patients with head trauma or strokes. The ganser syndrome is rare in children and in adolescents. Factitious disorder with mostly physical symptoms people with this disorder claim to have symptoms related to a physical illnesssymptoms such as chest pain, stomach problems, or fever. The syndrome is very rare and primarily affects males. He had noted a syndrome in three prisoners, the features of which included approximate answers to simple questions, perceptual abnormalities such as visual and auditory hallucinations, clouding of consciousness, and symptoms of somatic conversion. Gansers syndrome is usually sudden in onset and, like malingering, seems to arise in response to an opportunity for personal gain or the avoidance of some responsibility. Gs is briefly discussed in psychiatry textbooks under different. Ganser syndrome abstract neurologicpsychiatric syndromes in. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our ganser research. A case of the ganser syndrome in a 14yearold girl, with three of the four essential features, is presented.
Sometimes called the syndrome of approximate answers, gansers syndrome is most often seen in male prisoners. Ganser syndrome is a rare type of condition in which a person deliberately and consciously acts as if he or she has a physical or mental illness when he or she is not really sick. Although the formulation of these criteria have been valuable in educating people in the field, their use as a tool has been somewhat limited due to the unclear nature of which criteria are. It is not clear why the authors felt that those individuals who did not display approximate answers had ganser. Ganser syndrome, trance logic, and the question of malingering. This was about 86% of all the recorded gansers in the usa. Ganser syndrome is defined as the presence of approximate answers, somatic conversion symptoms, clouding of consciousness, and pseudohallucinations. In 1898, german psychiatrist sigbert ganser first published a lecture, delivered the previous year, describing 3 patients who exhibited a set of symptoms that he felt described a new hysterical. Scott 1965 in a commentary on gansers paper says aubrey lewis noted that ganser syndrome is found typically in patients awaiting trial. Although considered to be essential for the diagnosis, approximate answers were cited as occurring in only 83 88. Gansers syndrome is a factitious disorder, characterised by the individual mimicking behaviour they think are typical of a psychosis, by providing nonsensical or wrong answers to questions, and doing things incorrectly. Ganser syndrome is a rare disorder with about a 100 documented cases worldwide that has been variously categorized as a fd or a dissociative disorder.
While whitlock 1967 held that the presence of approximate answers is the essential. Sadgun bhandari, in core psychiatry third edition, 2012. The nosological conception of ganser syndrome gs has evolved. Ganser syndrome medical education for undergraduate md. Ganser syndrome uncountable a rare stressinduced dissociative disorder characterized by giving nonsensical answers to questions. However, the mechanisms by which these cerebral insults lead to ganser syndrome or other dissociative states are largely unknown. Gansers syndrome with conversion symptoms can clearly cooccur with brain damage onset, as in a case who underwent a microembolic shower to. The most ganser families were found in the usa in 1920.
Pdf gansers syndrome is a rare and controversial condition. Ganser did not doubt his patients were truly sick people. It is characterized by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions or doing things incorrectly. Ganser syndrome is a rare dissociative disorder characterized by nonsensical or wrong. The history of posttraumatic stress disorder, complex. The ganser syndrome is rare in children and adolescents. Ganser company 1906 w beltline hwy, madison, wisconsin 537 rated 4. Although this disorder was previously classified as a factitious disorder, the american psychiatric association has redefined gansers syndrome and placed it in the category called dissociative disorder not otherwise specified. Know the causes, symptoms, treatment and diagnosis of ganser syndrome. Ganser himself had noted impairment of grasp, attention, concentration, anxiety and perplexity as. People with ganser syndrome mimic behavior that is typical of a mental illness, such as schizophrenia. This is the website of chicago postpunk, no wave, noise chicago band ganser. The discovery of ganser syndrome is attributed to sigbert josef maria ganser 24 january 1853.
Ganser syndrome, as it is now known, has been the subject of much debate since this. Approximately 70 cases have been described in the literature, most of them in prisoners. However, there have been cases with both hysterical and organic elements. People with ganser syndrome have shortterm episodes of bizarre behavior that appear similar to serious mental illnesses. Its also known as imposter syndrome or capgras delusion. Accounts of psychological symptoms following military trauma date back to ancient times. Join facebook to connect with charity ganser and others you may know. Ganser syndrome gahnser, a psychoticlike condition, without the. In this is an introductory article, we shall examine together the history of posttraumatic stress disorder ptsd, and how complex posttraumatic stress disorder cptsd differs, specifically in how people living with either experience flashbacks. A number of associated symptoms were also reported. In 1840 there were 6 ganser families living in pennsylvania. It was first described by the psychiatrist sigbert ganser in 1898. Ganser symptom complex the features of the syndrome considered were those cited by enoch and trethowan. Ganser delivered a lecture reporting upon a peculiar hysterical state in this lecture and its subsequent publication ganser, 18981965 he attached clinical significance to a constellation of symptoms and signs that came to bear his name.
Ganzer syndrome definition of ganzer syndrome by medical. This has led to the idea that ganser symptoms are a dissociative reaction. Ganser syndrome, as it is now known, has been the subject of much debate since this original paper. He was of the opinion that the condition was hysterical or malingering in origin. Synonyms for ekbom syndrome include delusions of infestation, delusional parasitosis and delusional infestation box 23. They discovered that hyperglutamatergic states, which are caused by both strokes and stress, share a relationship with dissociative symptoms, suggesting a possible organic pathology that can predispose individuals to the syndrome. It is also sometimes called nonsense syndrome, balderdash syndrome, syndrome of approximate answers, pseudodementia, hysterical. After rapid resolution in two weeks, ganser symptoms reappear seven months later accompanied, this second time, by previous depressive symptoms. An english psychiatrist, lorna wing, popularized the term aspergers syndrome in a 1981 publication. Ganser syndrome is a form of mental disorder in which the affected individual acts in a conscious manner in such as a way that he or she is terrible sick or unwell to gain attention when in fact the individual is perfectly normal. A 1904 report by vorster argued that he found gansers symptoms. The ganser family name was found in the usa, the uk, and canada between 1840 and 1920. Ganser syndrome definition of ganser syndrome by medical.
Learn about gansers syndrome, a type of fictitious disorder. The diagnosis of ganser syndrome in the practice of. Another 109 words 8 lines of text are included under the topic early ganser history in all our pdf extended history products and printed. Whether ganser syndrome is primarily a hysterical or an organic phenomenon has been debated in the literature. Ganser syndrome and lesion in the temporoparietal region ncbi. The patient will offer nearly correct replies when asked questions about facts of common knowledge, such as the number of days in a year, the number of months in a year. A personality disorder in which the patient describes dramatic but false symptoms or simulates acute illness, happily undergoing examinations, hospitalization, and diagnostic and therapeutic manipulations, and upon discovery of the real nature of his case often leaves without notice and moves on to another hospital. Ganser syndrome, nosology, adolescents the ganser syndrome is an uncommon clinical entity usually seen in individuals awaiting criminal conviction or sentencing. Case report of ganser syndrome in a 14yearold girl. Questions about its etiology, definition, and classification, as well as its status as a true mental illness versus a specific form of malingering has been the subject of multiple journal articles and book chapters.
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