I don’t find that angle of approach very useful. By insisting on the treatment aspect, we should not call Alzheimer’s a disease, as imposing the disease model on the condition does nothing to facilitate treatment (as there is none). As far as Alzheimer’s is concerned, all you can do (for now) is to slow the progress with drugs (which is not treatment per se) and give the best care you can for the individual to have a best possible life. This is to some extent analogous to how you would approach alcoholism. As far as alcoholism goes, while there is no treatment as such, there exist drugs that can be used for making alcohol intake a very unpleasant experience (for example antabuse). These drugs do not treat the condition, but they can help manage it. But first and foremost what you can do is to give the best care you can to prevent progress and relapse, preventing the aspects “that impairs normal functioning” from returning. In short, set up the conditions for the alcoholic to cope in his/her daily life, to live with the condition, and reduce the odds of relapses.
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