Lectures on Tap - "A History of the Lobotomy"

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

📚 Lecture: “A History of the Lobotomy”

🎤 Speaker: Prof. Katelyn Angell

Join us for a compelling evening exploring one of the most unsettling—and essential—chapters in the history of modern medicine. Educator and medical librarian Kate(lyn) Angell will guide us through the development of early- to mid-20th-century psychiatric treatments, culminating in the rise of the lobotomy. This engaging lecture builds historical context by examining the somatic therapies that preceded it, including malaria therapy, insulin shock therapy, and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Discover how these controversial and often desperate interventions emerged from a limited understanding of mental illness—and how they shaped the future of psychiatric care. By tracing the path from radical physical treatments to the foundations of modern psychopharmacology, Angell offers a clear-eyed look at how medicine learns, falters, and evolves. The story is unsettling, illuminating, and crucial for understanding how we arrived at today’s approaches to mental health.

Kate Angell is a medical librarian and associate professor at the CUNY School of Medicine. She holds an MLIS from St. John's University, an MA in Psychology from LIU Brooklyn, and a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University. She has presented across the USA and Europe on topics including the teaching and assessment of information literacy, the organization of information, and the history of psychiatry.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights about psychiatric history from Professor Angell!

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.

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