Voices in your head - what is it?

Hi
I have this thing that happens sometimes and it's mostly after a busy day, when I'm stressed, overtired and overwhelmed - I "hear" voices in my head, and it's not my voice or my thoughts, it's like people (either people I know, people's voices I've heard that day, random voices) talking loudly in my head, totally independently to what I'd like to be thinking. At one point this year I was working full time and this happened regularly after work, I think because I was often tired and overwhelmed and increasingly depressed. Yesterday I had a really busy (but good) day and it hit me hard last night. It's almost like I start to dream before I'm asleep. do other people on here experience this? I'm guessing it's just one of those symptoms of .... something.... and I should mention it to my psychiatrist/therapist, but sometimes it freaks me out and I worry I'm going to start hearing random voices. as it is, I know these are in my head.

Yes talk to your pdoc. Are you schizophrenic?

I will do, and no

The fact that you are self-aware indicates that it is not likely to be anything psychosis related.

You could definitely be hearing these "voices" due to being tired and/or stressed. Hearing voices as you go to sleep is not abnormal either, I have experienced it and as long as it's not affecting your life in a major way it should not be a concern. I imagine it's the blending of being conscious and dreaming, sometimes they can come together while we're not quite asleep yet and we hear other voices.

Feel free to bring it up to your pdoc if you feel concerned about it. Make sure to get enough rest and try activities to lower your stress levels, such as exercise or meditation.

I don't know, some sort of hallucinations?
It might help if you tell your pdoc what do the voices say.

just random stuff, like hearing people having their own conversations. what scaredandconfused said about hearing things as you go to sleep - I do get that as well, but this is more like just when I'm really tired and not actually going to sleep. i used to abuse ambien and it would make me hallucinate, occasionally voices, and this is similar to that. i kind of feel like i've "reached" (wrong connotations but not sure how else to put it) that same state of altered reality but now just from being overwhelmed and tired rather than substance-induced.