REPARATION

WHEN THE INFANT enters the depressive position and he is faced with the feeling that he has omnipotently destroyed his mother, his guilt and despair at having lost her awaken in him the wish to restore and recreate her in order to regain her externally and internally. The same reparative wishes arise in relation to other loved objects, external and internal. The reparative drives bring about a further step in integra- tion. Love is brought more sharply into conflict with hate, and it is active both in controlling destructiveness and in repairing and restoring damage done. It is the wish and the capacity for the restoration of the good object, internal and external, that is the basis of the ego’s capacity to maintain love and relationships through conflicts and difficulties. It is also the basis for creative activities, which are rooted in the infant’s wish to restore and recreate his lost happiness, his lost internal objects and the harmony of his internal world.