I've been thinking about this and I am still of the opinion that silence can just last too long. A little silence is okay, but very long and I just start getting angry and shutting down and pulling back.

I've tried telling my T that I hate the silences, and I've seen him make a little more effort to break the silence up with something like, "when you're ready, I'd like you tell me more about X." Because then I know what he's wanting from me and I can respond with what I'm thinking about X, or just say I'm not willing to discuss X yet. H still seems to fall into the habit of not telling me what the silence is about though.