My previous T was definitely more of a blank-slate T. She knew how terrified I was of the silences, and that I shut down, but she never changed her methods very much. I do know she tried, but it always fell short for me.

My current T knows that silences only make me feel worse, and make me shut down further. She also knows that verbalizing things in the room with her is very difficult, so she encourages me to write. She intuitively can tell when a silence has run its course and nothing more will be coming from me, so she will break it, and it helps.