Last session I went in with even higher than usual anxiety and I talked about chitchatty stuff and just kept it up. When T pointed out it had been 10 minutes, I told her that's because I am scared & don't want to get into the real stuff.

But hey, at least I showed up, and at least I said something; and I don't remember how she did it but after she knew where I was coming from, she gently turned the conversation and the next thing I knew we were working. Ts have a lot of skills in this area.