al., 2010). That said, while there exist obvious limitations to studying acute withdrawal processes in drug-addicted individuals, we suggest that following such individuals across the course of treatment may present a means of testing this heuristic framework within different drug addicted cohorts and in turn, screening for relapse risk. Specifically, as acute and protracted withdrawal symptoms subside, altered network dynamics may ‘normalize’. Individuals showing the least change in rsFC dynamics are hypothesized to present the greatest risk for recidivism to drug use. Finally, while we have emphasized a role for the insula in mediating some of the psychological deficits associated with drug use, given the multifaceted nature of this neuropsychiatric disease, alternative circuit disruptions (such as those described earlier) also represent potential targets for future treatment development.
