Sri Lanka, a New Wave Of Pain (washingtonpost.com)

Sri Lanka, a New Wave Of Pain (washingtonpost.com)

"In Sri Lanka, a New Wave Of Pain
Doctor Tries to Ease Mental Devastation
By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 7, 2005; Page A01

BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka -- Ganesan is a rare man in Sri Lanka.
He is a father, husband, and the only psychiatrist for 1.3 million of the world's most traumatized people. His roving practice along this island nation's eastern shore stretches over 150 miles, all of it devastated by last week's tsunami.

Even before the tidal wave, when his clients were one of the world's most suicide-prone populations, his practice was filled with paranoid schizophrenics, manic-depressives, rape victims and thousands of torture victims from the civil war (one subset of patients: people with pencils jammed in both ears simultaneously)."