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]