My group read focus is on Anne’s aloneness. I think Lady Russell’s actions isolate Anne more than she had been before her engagement to Captain Wentworth. Not intentionally of course. First her distain for Anne’s choice does not encourage confidences and second by never speaking of the broken engagement or Captain Wentworth she effectively cuts Anne off from her only confidant on the matter—herself. Lady Russell’s intent to save Anne from being “sunk by him into a state of most wearing, anxious, youth-killing dependance” by a long engagement actually brings on what she wanted to prevent:

A few months had seen the beginning and the end of their acquaintance; but, not with a few months ended Anne's share of suffering from it. Her attachment and regrets had, for a long time, clouded every enjoyment of youth; and an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect. (Ch. 4)