Name: Using faith to combat addiction
Uploaded: 2025-12-17T19:29:31.390Z
Duration: 3 min 55 s
Description: Dr. Tim Murphy, former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania, joins to discuss the importance of faith for many who are dealing with the disease of addiction.

Dr. Tim Murphy, former Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania, joins to discuss the importance of faith for many who are dealing with the disease of addiction.

Dr. Tim Murphy emphasized the significance of faith and the acknowledgment of a higher power in effective addiction recovery, referencing the original principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and research supporting better outcomes for those who practice religion. He noted that mainstream discussions and media often omit faith as a component of healing, despite many individuals seeking to include it in their recovery.

Murphy also discussed societal trends toward secularism among mental health professionals and increasing resentment toward religious perspectives. He highlighted the challenges faced by individuals with addiction and mental health issues, including legal barriers to treatment, and reiterated the potential for faith to fill a psychological void, referencing Blaise Pascal's concept of a "God-shaped hole."

Using faith to combat addiction

Dr. Tim Murphy, welcome back. I'm not wrong about that, I hope. It seems like it's never, the obvious solution is almost never mentioned. You know, when AA first started Alcoholics Anonymous, a standard part was you had to recognize there was a higher power. And that humility and that acknowledgement was a big part. And since then, there's been massive amounts of research that shows that those who are religious, regularly practice religion, not just some cosmic consciousness, really heal from trauma and other problems better. It's so important for those who have addiction problems to have that as part of their healing process. You're right. Let me ask you this though. Yes, at AA, having been, they talk about the higher power, but in our society, you know, day in and day out, like this Oprah Winfrey, Harry special, they did 14 episodes on Apple TV and it was all about how to fix depression and they never once mentioned God. It seems to have been chased out of the public. I know it's coming back, I hear it's coming back, but they really did a number on us, didn't they? Well, yeah, you have an increasingly secular society when polling, for example, psychologists has done, little over half say they're agnostic or atheist. And yet when people see a counselor, something like 60 or 70% who are believers, they wanna talk about that. And it is an important part of the healing process. But if those who are doing the counseling don't have that background, it's there. And in an increasingly secular society, you have groups who actually resent those of faith. Christians and Jews and the attacks against them are growing and in part because people resent that part of which we consider to be so important for the healing process. I wanna put up, you know, we're talking about this situation in Hollywood and Rob Reiner and The Sun and all that stuff. C06, please, I guess he's being interviewed by Billy Bush here. How many times did you go to rehab? He says, is it 18 times? And the answer is, yeah, yeah. And that's nine years ago. Let's see what else there. How do you manage it now? Do you go to AA meetings regularly? I found that those weren't as helpful for me as things like staying active and, you know, replacing the activity. You know, I just, this is good luck with that, I guess, if you don't have God. There's something else there which I think more information will come out later. I don't think this is just an addictive issue for him as it is for many people. It could be that he's treating it as medication to deal with probably a deeper psychological problem. I don't have any diagnosis from afar, but many times people, for example, with psychosis, schizophrenia, which by the way can also be brought on by heavy marijuana use over the years, is an important part of this. When you read about the dynamics of the violence of the attacks, and the question I'd like to know is, was he or anybody else on medication? Remember that case of the man on the train in North Carolina who stabbed a woman in and out of the judicial system? The judge is saying, well, we can't really force him to go to treatment. Many states have laws. You can't force someone to go to treatment. Some people sometimes need the law to say, you know what, you gotta get better. You are gravely disabled. You can't think right. Sometimes people are so sick, they don't know they're sick. And what they do, they turn back to drugs over and over and over again, thinking somehow this is gonna take away their depression, their anxiety. It doesn't. And for those, as you're talking about with depression, sometimes the issue is, who is it that Blaise Pascal talked about? For some people, there's a hole in your heart in the shape of God. And so it is a matter of making that part of one's healing life as well. Wow. Dr. Tim Murphy, thank you. DrTimMurphy.com and the book, The Christ Cure is available anywhere you can get books. Publish it right here at Newsmax Humanics Books. We thank you, Dr. Tim Murphy. Once again, DrTimMurphy.com, folks. Check it out.

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