Looping is a term used by Erving Goffman1 to describe a Catch-22-like situation in a total institution. The inmate is forced into a situation where any response he can make is wrong and everything leads to punishment. This is part of a process that Goffman refers to as mortification of the self, an attack on the inmate's selfhood and identity. Any response to a direct attack on the self is then attacked, creating an unpleasant feedback loop that ultimately leads to obedience. Looping can be simple or complex, but even in its complex forms any apparent freedom is an illusion.
This, like much sociological jargon, sounds dry and formal. The reality is an utter mess.
Someone creates a situation around you that forces you in only a limited number of directions for action. You are told that doing these things is the only way to be good, the only way for the punishment to stop. You do them. You are told you are doing them wrong. That you are doing them for the wrong reasons. That you are doing them with the wrong attitude, or the wrong way. That you are doing them to please and not because you believe it. That you're a liar. Anything. Then you are punished again. Told to do it differently. But no matter what you do, there's no escaping that your every move and thought is treated as bad behavior.
The mother who founded one human rights group for autistic people describes two phenomena in the autism field that often fall under this category. The first is called Infinite Regress to Danger (IRD), and is essentially a terrifying cascade reaction:
Autistic child is restrained for a minor incident of non-conforming behavior (ie. gets up from a chair, throws a toy) which panics him and causes him to fight. He is then restrained more forcefully which increases the panic level. A survival instinct accompanied by rage then engulfs the child. Restraint reaches the danger level for the autistic child. He is frequently traumatized, injured or even killed with IRD.2
The second is called No Tolerance Compliance, and is less physical in nature but can be equally damaging:
Done in some ABA programs, psychiatric institutions and group homes. Autistic child/adolescent is coerced to do something that is very difficult or impossible for him to do (unnecessary for reasonable a level of safety, ie. forced to sit in a chair beyond his ability, not reach for a favorite cookie, etc.). When he is "non-compliant" he is treated brutally with "touch that hurts", humiliating requests, loss of privileges, isolation, punishment that is unbearable for him, or has basic human needs withheld.2
The subjective experience of all this is of growing self-loathing, uncertainty, and terrified obedience. You forget that you can do anything right, no matter what you do. You internalize the punishment so that it wraps around your thoughts as well as your actions, and captivity enters your mind as well as your body. You may forget who you are. You might swing between passivity, withdrawal, and rebellion, but all of these have an odd quality of being controlled by your captors. Which is usually the point in the first place.
References:
1 Goffman, Erving. Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1961.
2 Anonymous. "Terms and Definitions". Children Injured by Restraints and Aversives.
http://users.1st.net/cibra/TermsDefs.htm. Accessed March 22, 2005.