I run into this problem, too, of being asked a question -- particularly one that pushes into deeper, ashamed territory and I become absolutely silent and look down. I have a wonderful relationship w/ my T and we've seen each other for 18 months, most of this twice/week. So today, it happened again. What we did is she asked if we could work with the protector part--there's some part in me protecting the rest of me from talking. We determined that the rest of me was ashamed and scared of being judged (even though I KNOW that she won't judge me). She asked me to close my eyes and see what this part looked like. I found that it was like a shield or tough layer of skin close to the surface, but inside. We talked to this part, she had me talk to this part and slowly I could talk about the deeper stuff and we ended up having a productive session (though always it seems too short ).

We don't always do this, but will resume on Friday doing a short meditation at the beginning of the session where my T will welcome and talk in a calming manner to the child part and to this protector part. She'll remind them that they're not being judged, they're encouraged to share anything, and that they're loved just because they're part of me. We haven't been consistent with such a meditation (and before we did it just for the child part), but when we do it often helps.

It's really weird because I go in each session with a list of things I want to talk about, but then the protector comes out and wont' let me talk for a while. It's like I have to relearn to trust my T each time and she's never done anything to warrant losing my trust.

So I completely get it. My T, too, was prodding me a bit for a while and I'd become even more silent (if that's possible!) until we determined that the best was for her to be welcoming to this part and us to be curious about it. I hope that this helps!