I've known a couple of people in my lifetime who have mental disorders, like borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder. Both of them had their disorders controlled to some extent by drugs. When they go off the drugs, chemical imbalances in their brains cause them to experience depression and negative and destructive thought patterns. These thought patterns are controlled by the drugs, apparently bringing a chemical balance back to the brain.

What I've been thinking about today is this.

If negative and destructive thought patterns are controlled by drugs returning a chemical balance to the brain, that means that the thoughts themselves are controlled or influenced by chemicals. This means that balanced or positive thoughts are influenced or controlled by a balanced chemical makeup in the brain.

So where does 'free will' come into this if thoughts are determined by the chemicals in the brain?

What does this mean for 'free will' if our thought patterns are actually affected or controlled by the chemicals in our brains? It sounds to me that free will doesn't actually exist, and is instead an illusion that is created by the interaction of various chemicals and electrical impulses that result in what we call thoughts.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Or chemical interactions pretending to be thoughts? :-)