Be easier on yourself

So, one of the students in my class beats himself in the head with his hands and calls himself stupid.  He berates himself under his breath non-stop.  I told him tonight that he couldn't do that.  He needs to be easier on himself because berating himself is not productive.  He said he can't stop himself.  I said look around, everybody is struggling, you have to stop being so hard on yourself.  The rest of the students do their best to ignore it, but there are giggles when he gets really bad.  He said he tells himself to calm down but he can't.  I said you are just learning, repetition will help.  He says he can't remember the important stuff.  I wonder if I should start threatening to take points away if he keeps degrading himself (giggle) or tell him that kind of talk is not allowed!  Maybe he would respond to me getting all dominant on him...lol.

Now, I have gone down the self-flagellation route a few times, but I can't keep it up.  I can't beat myself up like that for more than a couple of days and then my happy spirit returns unbidden. How does someone get into that kind of habit?  I do think we should be gentle with ourselves.  I feel for the most part we are doing the best that we can and it won't get better with that kind of self-criticism.  It just makes me sad that someone feels that they deserve that kind of treatment from anyone, including himself.