In a stateless society, how would involuntary commitments be dealt with in situations where an individual is genuinely suffering from a severe mental health crisis?

I think there is too much of a tendency on the part of many libertarians to think that under anarcho-capitalism, all would be radically different than at present. In my view, much would be the same, of course apart from taxes, wars, regulations, and other such issues. But, the garbage would still have to be collected, the trains might not all run exactly on time, there would still be problems with airline overbooking, etc. Our friends the Marxists believe in “socialist man” who will be unlike anyone we now know. But, libertarians, at least sensible ones, do not maintain this. Rather, there will still be criminals, and jails will be needed to keep them out of circulation. Some will be lazy and shiftless. Others, through no fault of their own, will be poverty stricken. We will of course all, on average, be richer under a regime of economic freedom, but, still, the rising tide will not raise all boats.

Also, there will be children without parents, the mentally ill, senile people. In my view, such challenges will be handled roughly as they are today. Yes, courts will have to give their imprimatur for involuntary commitments, and they will be private, not public, but, surely, there will be such needy people even in the free society (probably fewer of them than at present, mainly because government creates all sorts of problems, and takes away half the GDP some of which might well be used to address them, but that is a different issue.) These private courts will have to be make decisions about such helpless souls, and some of them, presumably, will include involuntary commitments. Errors, too, will be made; this cannot be helped. It is part of the human condition, at least on this side of the Garden of Eden. Involuntary commitment is only a violation of rights when employed against people in their right minds. But this cannot reasonably be said about orphan babies, mentally ill people, the senile.

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