Hi
@Sparrowlegs ,
There may be several things at play here. As
@Wookie mentioned, it sounds like your husband suffered from inner ear decompression sickness. If he lost hearing, he may also be suffering from tinnitus (ringing in the ears), which I can tell you from firsthand experience can leave one with little patience to deal with anything else. I've never heard of an incident of brain DCS leading to a permanent personality change but it's theoretically possible.
@Storker raised the very real possibility of PTSD, and even absent that, losing a hobby that many people consider to be therapy could have been traumatic for him.
Diving is an interesting phenomenon. The very act of surviving (much less enjoying) an environment that requires life-support equipment and constant vigilance can be powerfully reinforcing and addictive. Your husband would have had to go through a grieving process, and if he has not recognized this, he may not have fully processed his loss. This is not intended to induce guilt and I'm offering it without any judgment, but the distance in your relationship is probably an additional stressor for him, though it may not appear that way at the moment. Have you considered relationship counseling? That may be a way to help him into a therapeutic relationship with a counselor and could serve as a bridge to individual counseling for him.
Best regards,
DDM
<edit> P.S. Who told him he could never dive again, and what was the rationale?
