When I first started therapy with this T, and we had some moments of silence, I didn't like it at all! T and I discussed it, she said that silence is a gift. It took me awhile to become more comfortable with the silences. Even now, I'm not always comfortable, but sometimes I initiate the silence, and it's T who breaks the silence to move things along. T seems to be very good at reading me, so she uses silence to give me a chance to pull my thoughts together - this worked last session, I brought up something rather painful after gathering my courage during a period of silence. I also like that my T doesn't just sit and stare at me when we're silent - she will usually have her head down, and I don't look at her, but I notice that she'll steal glances at me, probably to gauge where I'm at.

Maybe you could ask your T not to stare at you when it's silent. I can see how that would really increase your level of discomfort, if you feel like you're under constant scrutiny.