Nightmares and Other Therapy by D. W. Carver

Hospitals are supposed to help. Michael found that wasn't always true. Book 1 of the Smithson's series. Michael couldn't understand the nightmares that made him violent on waking, mostly because he didn't have the courage to think his problem through. Eventually, pressured into entering a mental hospital by his employers he thought that here he would find answers and a way to a better life. He was never more wrong.