breaking point (psychology)
{{Short description|Critical moment of stress within the mind}}
In human psychology, the breaking point is a moment of stress in which a person breaks down or a situation becomes critical.{{cite web | url = http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=breaking+point&i=0&h=00#c | title= breaking point = work = Wordnet.Princeton.edu}} The intensity of environmental stress necessary to bring this about varies from individual to individual.{{sfn|Kimble | 1996 | page = 100}}
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{{sfn|Gudjonsson | 2003 |page = 192}} – changes which may be precipitated by a sense of helplessness,{{sfn|Goleman | 1996 | page = 204}} by lack of preparedness or an underlying sense of guilt,{{sfn|Fenichel|1946 | pages = 122-125}} as well (paradoxically) as by an inability to acknowledge one's own vulnerabilities.{{sfn|Skynner |Cleese |1994 | pages = 116-117}}
Life
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.{{sfn|Symington|2000 | page = 79}}
Some psychoanalysts say that rigid personalities may be able to endure great stress before suddenly cracking open.{{sfn| Berne |1976 | page = 51}}
See also
Bibliography
- {{cite book| last = Berne | first=Eric | title= A Layman's Guide to Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis | year = 1976}}
- {{cite book| last = Fenichel | first= Otto | title= The Psychoanalytic Theory of Neurosis | year = 1946}}
- {{cite book| last = Goleman | first=D. | title= Emotional Intelligence | year = 1996}}
- {{cite book| last = Gudjonsson | first=G. H. | title= The Psychology of Interrogation and Confession | year = 2003}}
- {{cite book| last = Kimble | first= G. A. | title= Psychology | year = 1996}}
- {{cite book| last = Skynner | first= R. | first2 =J. | last2 = Cleese | title= Families and how to survive them | year = 1994}}
- {{cite book| last = Symington | first= Neville | title= Narcissism: A New Theory | year = 2000}}