Your Body After Narcissistic Abuse
Why your body still reacts to the narcissist long after they are gone.

Anger is not something you suddenly wake up with one day.
It is often the result of a deep sense of unsafety that settled into the body and consciousness very early in life.
“Anger is the prison of unresolved childhood trauma, experienced in an emotionally unsafe environment.”
As children, we adapt to survive.
We develop coping mechanisms and reactive behaviours that once protected us. Over time, these responses become so familiar that we lose awareness that we actually have control - and that they are not who we are.
When these survival patterns carry into adulthood, they can leave us feeling trapped, traumatised, and stuck in cycles of anger, shame, fear, and self-doubt. Many people who struggle with anger also carry deep beliefs of not being good enough, always failing, or never being enough.
This work is not about blame or staying in victimhood.
Healing begins when we can hold a more honest and compassionate understanding: our parents did the best they could with what they knew at the time - without expecting them to provide the solution now.
Does that make an emotionally unsafe childhood acceptable?
Absolutely not.
Neuroscience now confirms what many feel intuitively: talking about trauma alone does not fully release it. The body carries memory, and healing requires an integrated approach - involving both mind and body.
When you reach a place of acceptance - this happened, it affected me, and I can choose differently - something shifts.
Acceptance is not resignation.
It is where power returns.
Behind many uncontrolled anger outbursts is a child longing to be heard, to feel safe, and to finally leave survival behind.
That child deserves peace.
And healing is possible.
Sue Leppan is a life, transformation and holistic wellness coach based in Sandbaai, Hermanus. Providing therapy for a range of challenges, Sue specialises in targeting and dealing with emotional trauma, self-doubt, depression, stagnation and self-centring. Whether you need help with personal issues ...
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