Reparation, in psychoanalytic and particularly Kleinian thinking, is often seen as central to the establishment of a creative capacity for love and concern. But apparent reparative urges may have obsessional and narcissistic aspects which militate against the capacity to use an object and thus against the emergence of genitality and true creativity. In particular, ‘reparative’ strivings may be a defence against feared parental envy and against the agonies and anxieties inherent in the act of asserting a separated self. The obsessional need to repair is considered in developmental and clinical terms and in relation to the practice and culture of psychoanalysis.