Thanks for an interesting article.

It could be a deceptive conclusion, you know.... like a chicken/egg
situation.

When one is developing alzheimers it seems that there is confusion about
organizing things.   Just getting showered and dressing is often too much
for them.   THAT alone could lead to isolation and thus, loneliness.

I think the interpretation is one of those errors in logic "post hoc
ergo proctor hoc", which essentially means "after this, therefore
because of this". The error is the belief that the association with a
factor suggests that that factor CAUSES the illness.

My MIL, for example, finally developed some overt signs of Alzheimer's
at the age of 73 leading to her diagnosis. However, looking back at
her behaviour over the previous years, both my husband and I believe
that we were seeing symptoms at least 5-7 years prior to that point -
so right back into her mid to later 60's.

In subtle ways, she began to withdraw from the world, saying she was
"too old" for certain things. She'd always been a bit shy, but she
began to find new people, places, any kind of change or travel
stressful and overwhelming. At the time, we really found this
frustrating and unfathomable, since she had lots of money, she was
very healthy, and she pretty much was packing up on enjoying life,
trying new things, taking trips etc. And yeah, if you are older, and
you won't go anywhere or do anything, you live alone and your old
friends are your own age (and thus with issues of their own)....pretty
soon you get pretty lonely, sitting by yourself. Long before her
Alzheimer's was diagnosed, her social contacts had shrunk to her
family, and a very few old friends. She basically stayed home and
watched TV.

I don't think that the loneliness caused the Alzheimer's. I suspect
that the loneliness was the side effect of the earliest and most
subtle signs of the Alzheimer's brewing - whatever impairments made
her withdraw from social situations and active participation in the
larger world.

M.