Dr. Janet Polivy - Today

Dr. Polivy is also known for her development of the “False Hope Syndrome.” This syndrome is caused by unrealistic expectations specifically due to misleading advertisement, which Dr. Polivy is adamantly against. If a diet promises miraculous results, Dr. Polivy warns dieters to “immediately classify that as quackery.”

Studies like these and others linking anxiety to eating have had a large impact on eating disorder research, and have brought Dr. Polivy well-deserved attention from media and academics alike. In 2005, she was featured on NBC’s Dateline, recreating dieting experiments with Las Vegas residents which produced the same results as her earlier experiments.