That “ok, I was a horrible mother, are you happy?” sounds pretty much like a manipulation tactic to make you feel guilty, especially the “are you happy?” part.

The “ok, ok” thing could be well translated as “don’t break my patience,” “I really don’t care what you think,” or “give me a break, will you?” – Just to name a few, actually the list can be longer…

I felt tempted to say “ok, ok” many times, and probably did at some point, but I usually sigh, take a deep breath, count till ten or stuff like that, especially when I come accross obssessive people who just love to be always right or are fond of playing the blame game.

Confrontation works well when people know (at least deep inside) that they are manipulating others, but when their mental health issues go beyond being aware of what they are doing, it can be pretty draining and a waste of time. The problem is how do we know if a person really does not realize what they are doing… Big task there, and it can be kind of stressful sometimes, too. And, maybe that’s when we are more tempted to “yeah yeah” others in an effort of getting them off our backs (yep).

On the other hand, when dealing with my mother who I believe to be narcissistic (I’m just a psych student, not qualified to diagnose so take that with a grain of salt), she has said, “ok, ok” when I’ve confronted her on her lack of protection from my physically abusive father. She’s said, “ok, I was a horrible mother, are you happy?”. While there is nothing she can do about it now, her “ok, ok” was still similar in that she wanted to appease me by pretending to admit to something that she does not truly believe.