Magnetically confined plasmas can be characterized by different operational regimes, i.e. distinctive features of the spatial distributions of pressure and current. The problem of the sustainment of high-beta plasma regimes for long times via proper alignment of the current sources is analyzed. A criterion involving the change of profile and sign of the poloidal current density is shown to be critical in order to discriminate the different plasma regimes and to prescribe precise plasma profiles for the establishment of such scenarios. The change of the properties of the poloidal current density profile is then linked to the breaking of the magnetic topology of a part of the plasma Hamiltonian. In the framework of the theory for phase transitions in equilibrium systems, this topology breaking could explain the phase-transition like behavior found in the access to stationary advanced plasma regimes.