>Have you reviewed his debates via debatesdebates.

In my opinion, they are very informative, and often (very) amusing too.

>Do you agree with him that drugs should be legalized?

Self-ownership requires such (though Szasz would, I believe, want to
refrain from the use of the term legalization, in favor of
decriminalization).

>Are you against involuntary commitment? I am, but I am not sure how I
would handle a suicidal patient. Would I let him or her die? Would I
commit them? I am not sure. What are your views?

Forgive me, but your language reminds me a little of
psychiatrist-speak. Rejecting coercion over the allegedly suicidal
person (are they automatically a patient?) means only that force is
ruled out. To say you would "let" him or her die doesn't strike me as
your only alternative. The issue, for me, concerns the existence of
special mental health laws, which legalize what we would normally
think of as assault, battery, kidknapping, torture, etc. The title of
one of Szasz's book is Psychiatric Slavery, which revealingly looks at
psychiatry in the courtroom. What I might or might not do in a
hypothetical situation involving someone I know personally (who, for
example, informs me that he is suicidal) is quite another question, I
would say.

With regard to the Pies article, I thought the following passage was
important: "Suffice to say that for two of the three psychiatric
diagnoses—mania and major depression—interrater reliability was better
between the psychiatrists than it was among the radiologists in the
first study."
But if mental illness doesn't exist, what exactly are the
psychiatrists (reliably) measuring..?

ted.