The therapist-client relationship is considered one of the most important aspects of the process of individual psychotherapy. The therapeutic or working alliance is one aspect of the therapist-client relationship that is hypothesized to be especially important. Utilizing the Vanderbilt Therapeutic Alliance Scale, this study compared audiotaped therapy segments from a sample of time-limited therapy clients with a similar group of time-unlimited or open-ended clients. Subjects were predominantly female graduate and undergraduate student clients who were randomly assigned to either a 5-session time-limited therapy condition (N=16) or an open-ended therapy condition (N=15). Results indicated that the setting of time limits in individual psychotherapy did not appear to enhance the therapeutic alliance. Therapists and clients in time-limited therapy did not develop roles, attachments and shared responsibilities significantly better than their counterparts in time-unlimited therapy. (ABL)