In human psychology, the breaking point is a moment of stress in which a person breaks down or a situation becomes critical.
[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.