Theories of the psychoanalytic process inevitably influence the clinician's handling of the treatment. Investigations in the private theories of analysts point to the anchoring of these process conceptions in the personal experience of the analyst; therefore a normative, ideally constructed process model does not correspond to what is found when empirical studies are performed. For many reasons of social interactionism criticism applies also to so-called natural process conception which maintains that the process of working through has to pass ontogenetic phases from early to late. Though the concept of phase, known also as focus, is a very helpful notion, its empirical foundation is yet very weak. The paper describes empirical approaches to identify focal phases which are the basis of the Ulm process conception.