If you have some time, type "involuntary commitment" into an internet
search window and see what you find.

Have you ever attended an involuntary commitment hearing? If you
have the time, go watch one. An IC hearing is usually considered to
be a public, open to the public, if not always open to the public.
But you might find that it is difficult to find out when commitment
hearings are scheduled. One reason is they are considered "emergency
hearings". You might ask the court clerk to notify you when a
hearing is scheduled, although most court clerks probably don't feel
that notifying you about the hearing is part of their job description
and don't want to notify you unless you have a special interest in
the case. And if you have a special interest in the case, then the
clerk would probably think the prosecuting attorney, i.e. the
attorney advocating the commitment, should notify you or the defense
counsel, who is supposed to represent the person whose commitment is
sought, should notify you. Sometimes the clerks treat the commitment
cases in a kind of "hush-hush" attitude.

Probably in a lot of cases there is not actually a "hearing". It
probably happens that in many cases a lot of "waivers" by the accused
are entered into the record. There is no testimony and the person
who is accused of being a mentally person who should be committed is
probably never brought before the Court and "read his rights".

There are probably many commitment hearings every month where you
live. But they are not likely publicized. I think I will contact the
newspapers and ask why they don't report those matters. If someone
is accused of disturbing the peace, it is likely, but not certain,
that a brief mention will be made in the paper somewhere. But I
don't think the papers routinely mention commitment hearings. An
insanity defense to a felony will probably get a mention.

How many commitment hearings happen in your county seat every month?
You might be surprised at the number. It might an average of five or
maybe twenty-five, depending on the population of your county. Maybe
if the newspapers would begin to cover those cases, the public would
get interested in Szasz's ideas.