The Lion Theory Project.
The Research and Science Work.
In 2019, J C Atkins created what is now known as The Lion Theory and proved in her cognitive and neuroscience research work anyone who has suffered from childhood trauma will have Dual Autism and ADHD pathways in their foundation behaviour. With the theory came the recovery model to reduce the impact of childhood trauma, finally we had the answers to what would work in childhood trauma recovery in adults.
The Lion Theory continues to be a leading framework in trauma recovery, demonstrating how lived experience, combined with cognitive and neuroscience research, can create effective, transformative interventions for adults recovering from childhood trauma
The Lion Theory Recovery Model works not by looking at personal trauma; but by looking at the behavioural pathways that have been created during critical cognitive and brain developmental stages in childhood. The model targets the Dual Autism and ADHD pathways and breaks the patterns of behaviour created over time by the cognitive response pathways. By targeting the four key areas and replacing the negative response pathways with healthy cognitive pathways to allow recovery to be possible.
The Lion Theory Science Paper: (2019)
In the supporting science paper J C Atkins looks at the prolong stress response in childhood developmental stages and the effect it has on the brain and neurons. She strips down the leading neuroscience work from all over the world and puts it all into a completed jigsaw to prove her own theory, how autism and ADHD cognitive pathways foam in the brain. Her work looks at the impact hormones have on the brain during extreme childhood trauma. J C Atkins, finishes off Darwin's work in stress response in orchids, to see the relationship between growth hormones and cell mutation pathways in stress responses.
Developmental changes in Stress Response in the Brain: Childhood Trauma J. C. Atkins (2025)
Paper One: The Science paper.
Paper Two: Full references and blueprint to the paper.
The Lion Theory Research Paper; (2019)
In the paper J C Atkins proves that everyone who has suffered from childhood trauma will have the same collective set of behaviours. Joanne breaks down all the research work ever done in the field and builds her own completed jigsaw, to prove her theory that dual autism and ADHD pathways develop in developmental stages of childhood in prolonged stress responses.
J C Atkins, then shows the collective set of behaviours and the dual pathways in her case study of Victor of Aveyron. The French feral child discovered in the 18th century. She strips down Jean Marc Gaspard Itard work and builds her own theory.