Your Nervous System Isn’t an Excuse to Act Like an Asshole

Doing The Work from Naples Integrated Recovery · Oct 18, 2026 · 26m

Nervous system dysregulation can explain why conflict feels overwhelming, why your body goes into fight-or-flight, and why old relationship patterns can take over fast. In this episode, I look at the reactive inner child—my term for what Terry Real calls the adaptive child—and the ways earlier survival strategies can show up as defensiveness, control, retaliation, withdrawal, overexplaining, and the need to be right. We also get into how to recognize activation before your range of choice disappears, use practical emotional regulation skills, and take a structured timeout without turning…