Sigbert Ganser
- Category : 1853-births
- Type : MGP
- Profile : 3/5 - Martyr / Heretic
- Definition : Split - Small (50,57,60)
- Incarnation Cross : RAX Unexpected 4
Biography
German psychiatrist remembered for "Ganser syndrome," a hysterical disorder that he first described in 1898. He identified 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. Ganser believed that these symptoms were an associative reaction caused by an unconscious attempt by the patient to escape from an intolerable mental situation.
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 head of the psychiatric department at Dresden General Hospital. Among his students was neurologist Hans Queckenstedt (1876-1918).
He died on 4 January 1931, aged 77, in Dresden, Saxony.