In human psychology, the breaking point is a moment of stress in which a person breaks down or a situation becomes critical. [1] The intensity of environmental stress necessary to bring this about varies from individual to individual. [2]
Getting someone to confess to a crime during an interrogation – whether innocent or guilty – means the suspect has been broken. The key to breaking points in interrogation has been linked to changes in the victim's concept of self [3] – changes which may be precipitated by a sense of helplessness, [4] by lack of preparedness or an underlying sense of guilt, [5] as well (paradoxically) as by an inability to acknowledge one's own vulnerabilities. [6]
Psychoanalysts like Ronald Fairbairn and Neville Symington considered that everybody has a potential breaking point in life, with vulnerability particularly intense at early developmental stages. [7]
Some psychoanalysts say that rigid personalities may be able to endure great stress before suddenly cracking open. [8]