My dh has always done this, thankfully we don't row very often so it doesn't happen very often, he tells me afterwards that he's not punishing me, it's not him giving me the silent treatment, but needs to retreat into his shell to process things.
The problem is, it's him giving me the cold shoulder that makes me feel that maybe 'this' is it. He said last night, during the row that he'd got to the end of the line with the relationship. I'm sure he didn't mean it, but that alongside his silence makes me feel horrid. My ex emotionally abused me for years and it was a tactic he used to get his own way. It feels very similar to this.
We had a row last night, not helped by the fact we were all tired from having visitors for Xmas and not sleeping well (we gave my dp our bed). But it's a row we've had several times before, because we never resolve it, as I'm so glad once he starts to talk to me again I don't push the issue. I'm also not great at conflict but do like to try and discuss things, it's just he thinks I'm in the wrong and he's right and he now gets annoyed if I bring it up. So after he shouts at me he then gives me the silent treatment.
This time I won't try and smooth things over, he can talk to me when he's ready, so will be interesting to see how long it lasts, as I usually try and push him into talking to me, which will sometimes bring him out of his shell. We're supposed to go out on nye, but I bet my bottom dollar he still won't be talking to me so I might as well cancel it