‘Primum non nocere’: A review of Taking America off Drugs: Why Behavioral Therapy is More Effective for Treating ADHD, OCD, Depression and Other Psychological Problems by Stephen Ray Flora

Taking America off Drugs by Stephen Ray Flora provides an overview of effective behavioral interventions to treat a variety of mental health concerns, including depression and phobias. These disorders are better treated with behavioral than psychopharmacological interventions. Yet, the latter prevail in today’s society. Taking America off Drugs provides the background to help us understand why, as it puts the treatment of behavioral disorders in the context of modern psychiatry and its relationship with the pharmaceutical industry. This review provides an overview and critical evaluation of the book, but it also extends its context by discussing the history of the treatment of mental illness and practices of the pharmaceutical-medical complex and by offering an optimistic scenario by which psychopharmacological agents will ultimately be replaced by interventions based on the principles of applied behavior analysis.