In most cases, it is preceded by extreme stress and followed by amnesia for the period of psychosis. In addition to approximate answers, other symptoms include a clouding of consciousness, somatic conversion disorder symptoms, confusion, stress, loss of personal identity, echolalia, and echopraxia. Cause
To date, no definitive cause or reason of the disorder has been established. The sources that classify the syndrome as a dissociative disorder or a factitious disorder conflict in their proposed aetiologies. As a result, there are differing theories as to why the syndrome develops. Ganser syndrome was previously classified as a factitious disorder, explaining the symptoms as mimicking of what patients who do not experience psychosis believe is typical of the experience. However, the DSM-IV placed the syndrome under "Dissociative Disorders Not Otherwise Specified". There has been evidence of a strong correlation between approximate answers and amnesia, suggesting that these have an underlying dissociative mechanism.Both Gansers syndrome and the broader category of dissociative disorders have been linked to histories of hysteria, psychosis, conversion, multiple personality and possible feigning. Despite this, the conditions aetiology remains under question due to associations with established psychiatric disorders, as well as organic states. According to Stern and Whiles (1942), Ganser syndrome is a fundamentally psychotic illness.
This denial of behaviour can be seen as a way to overcome anxiety and helplessness brought on by the stressful event that often precedes the syndrome.These aetiological debates focus on the main symptom of Ganser syndrome and its importance in its diagnosis. Approximate answers are prominent in the Ganser syndrome literature, causing concern in those who believe that this is a relatively simple symptom to feign.Ganser syndrome was regarded as an Adjustment Reaction of Adult Life in the DSM-II and later was moved under the category of Factitious Disorder with Psychological Symptoms in the DSM-III. Ganser syndrome can also be found under the Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) section of the DSM-IV-TR, however it is not listed in the DSM-5, which got rid of the DDNOS section and replaced it with Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) and Unspecified Dissociative Disorder (USDD). Despite this, the International Classification of Diseases has Ganser syndrome listed under dissociative disorders. See also
Paraphasia

References
Further reading
Schutzman, Mady (2003). "Being Approximate: The Ganser Syndrome and Beyond" (PDF). Journal of Medical Humanities. 24 (1/2): 147–158. doi:10.1023/A:1021318118143. S2CID 141323730. Retrieved 14 December 2010. == External links ==