You said that he had been abused during childhood. That probably has a lot to do with the struggles that he has now, whether the connection is clear or not. Some of the disorders that arise from trauma like that include PTSD, or complex PTSD (which is not officially in the DSM but you can find information about it - the emphasis is on a history of ongoing abuse or trauma rather than on one or a few incidents that are easier to identify); also any of the Dissociative disorders may result from a history of trauma or abuse; and the Personality Disorders are based on longstanding patterns learned during childhood. Any of these disorders (PTSD, Dissociative Disorders, and Personality Disorders) can include symptoms like you are describing: anger, difficulty with relationships, depression, sensitivity and sudden changes in mood or temperament. These diagnoses can be pretty complicated to diagnose and might become clear to his therapist over time in working with him. They are also reasonable reactions to the things that happened to him in the past, even though not appropriate or effective in current situations.

Medication can help to take the edge off of the symptoms, but won't teach him skills to manage triggers and moods. Therapy can give him a chance to learn those skills and process what happened to him and change the way that he thinks about it so that he can have more control in his life. If the therapist that he went to didn't help much, try another one or just give it more time. It took your husband's whole life for him to become who he is. Change is going to take time also. Get support for yourself if you are struggling with his symptoms, because it will affect you too.

If you want to understand what is going on, you might look up the categories of disorders that I mentioned and see if anything stands out to you. Include your husband in that search for information. It will go over much better if you are working together rather than if he feels like you are trying to diagnose him or talk about him behind his back. There are a lot of books that have good insights in them and can be helpful. One that I really like is called "Reinventing Your Life." It has some screeners that help to identify "schemas" or "lifetraps" which are ways of thinking that were learned early in life that affect the way that we think and feel and act now, which may be based on distortions and result in patterns of behavior that don't work out too well for us. Everybody has some schemas, and schemas are not a diagnosis, but the book will help with understanding what your schemas are, where you learned them, and how they affect you and people around you. It also tells you how to change these patterns. You and your husband could both use the book and work together, and you can also take it to the therapist and ask for more help or if it is something that the therapist thinks could help.

Rap