Breaking point (psychology)


In human psychology, the breaking point is a moment of stress in which a person breaks down or a situation becomes critical.
The intensity of environmental stress necessary to bring this about varies from individual to individual.

Interrogation

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 – changes which may be precipitated by a sense of helplessness, by lack of preparedness or an underlying sense of guilt, as well as by an inability to acknowledge one's own vulnerabilities.

Life

s like Ronald Fairbairn and Neville Symington considered that everybody has a potential breaking point in life, with vulnerability particularly intense at early developmental stages.
Some psychoanalysts say that rigid personalities may be able to endure great stress before suddenly cracking open.