Mental Health Concern

Please forgive me if this in the incorrect forum. I also apologize for any terminology that may be incorrect or inappropriate. I have a very limited understanding of psychology.
I will first list, then describe some troubling symptoms that have recently emerged in hopes that some of you will help me identify and understand what the heck is happening to my brain. I am a 23 year old male and have never before had substantial psychological issues or consulted with a professional.
For the past five weeks the following has become consistent:
-Multiple vivid nightmares every night. (Horror, death, sexual violence)
-Uncontrollable suicidal thoughts (No immediate danger)
-Episodes of shaking and stuttering.

Nightmares: I have never had nightmares this bad. They are vivid, gruesome, and haunting, occurring more than once per night, and I seem to remember them in detail. The subjects of these dreams vary greatly. Most of the time I am under the threat of violence; being chased by monsters, being physically tortured, or witnessing others be harmed. Sometimes these dreams involve people I know, sometimes it involves strangers. There appears to be little consistency other than themes of impending doom.

Thoughts of self-harm: This is really new for me and difficult to explain. I have never had thoughts of suicide before five weeks ago. The strange part is, these thoughts do not feel like my own. I am not actively fantasizing killing myself nor am imagining the actual act of self-injury. Rather, my internal voice will randomly tell me to kill myself, dozens of times every day. It is abrupt, frightening, and feels totally outside my control. I’ll be doing homework or watching a movie, and I’ll hear words in my head that I won’t describe in great detail. Sometimes I say them out loud, even waking myself up in the night, yelling words that I would never say.

Shaking: This one is strange and I really can’t detect a pattern. Every once in a while, my arms, legs, and head start shaking. I don’t mean quivering, I mean SHAKING. It also seems to affect my brain. During the physical episode I get caught stuttering and looping a vocal phrase, like a record. The phrase is usually just whatever I was thinking before the episode started. These never last more than five or ten minutes but they take almost full control of my body and mind. I sometimes end up on the floor.

The most troubling aspect of these symptoms is how often they occur. I have had no rest from them and I doubt I’ll be able to hide it much longer. I’m terrified I’ll say something horrible in class or start shaking my body. I can’t identify an event in my life that would cause this level of mental distress. Has this happened to people before? Do you have any ideas of what this might mean? Should I seek help, and if so, how? Please feel free to ask any questions. Just hearing someone else might help me not feel so scared.

Hi,

I'm sorry to hear that the symptoms that you've described here have been causing you the amount of distress that they've been causing for five weeks now. It's hard to know what might be causing the symptoms that you've described, but I'd recommend seeking professional help to see if a professional might be able to shed some light on what you're experiencing and possibly offer some sort of treatment. Because it seems possible that your symptoms might be related to a diagnosable non-psychiatric medical condition, I think that it would be a good idea to visit a regular doctor soon (a general practitioner) to get a medical opinion on whether or not a known medical condition might be causing your symptoms. Visiting a therapist or counselor is something that I think would also make sense, since you've said that you find the symptoms that you're experiencing to be troubling, and since they seem to involve your mental functioning being affected in a negative way. One thing that you might then want to discuss with either a regular doctor or a therapist or counselor would be whether or not seeking the assistance of a psychiatrist would be a good idea. But I'd probably start with seeing a regular doctor and maybe also a therapist or counselor first, since I'd say that there's probably enough reason to consider the possibility that the symptoms that you've been experiencing aren't due to a psychiatric condition.

At any rate, I wish you well, and I hope that you'll get to the bottom of what's causing your symptoms and also get some relief. And if you have any questions about what I've written, feel free to let me know.

You need to go to the doctors asap. Sounds like a serious depressive episode.

I agree, see a doctor soon. Sounds serious.

Definitely check out a doctor..

I agree with everyone above that you should get to a doctor, if you can. It's always best to rule out physical stuff first and then see therapists/psychologists/etc afterward, if nothing is wrong there. I'm sorry you're going through this and hope that you're able to find what's wrong

Hi,
Generally if you feel pain during sleep, you experience actual pain during the sleep.
Your nightmares indicate that you have a lot of tension in your life at present. My guess is that you study too much or rather struggle with studying for some exams. The studying is causing you headaches and tension in the back of your head and neck.
Seeing a doctor is reccomended, Apsychologist/therapist may look at it from a different angle and may burden you with unnecessary psicho drugs.

I would definitely start with a Doctor to rule out physical cause to what you are experiencing.