Dr. Kenneth Dachman's Schools

• Northwestern University Ph.D in Psychology

Dr. Kenneth Dachman's Publications

• Sleep Disorders, Dr. Kenneth Dachman December, 2010 As a leading researcher of sleep disorder diagnostic equipment, Dr. Kenneth Dachman founded Central Sleep Diagnostics to streamline his operations and develop new diagnostic inventions in 2008. Dr. Kenneth Dachman’s adaptations of existing sleep disorder diagnostic equipment for home use, known as True Sleep, allows potential suffers of sleep apnea and other somnipathies to determine whether they are afflicted with the disorders in easy at-home studies. Accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), Dr. Kenneth Dachman’s invention is the first at-home sleep diagnostics protocol to earn the certification. Sleep disorders are medical conditions causing abnormal sleep patterns that have the ability to interfere with a person’s daily life, health, and emotional well-being. Roughly 30 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders. Tests to determine whether a person has a sleep disorder are known as polysomnographies, or sleep studies. A polysomnography measures eye movements, brain activity, heart patterns, and muscle activation; standard tests require patients to spend a night in a sleep lab, where a technician monitors the person throughout the night. Sleep disorders are divided into three categories: dyssomnias, which include insomnia and narcolepsy; parasomnias, such as sleepwalking and bedwetting; and psychiatric or medical conditions that affect regular sleep, like depression and alcoholism. Sleep disorders may result from a number of causes, including stress, anxiety, obesity, diabetes, and aging. Developing good sleeping habits and determining if one suffers from a sleep disorder is crucial for a good quality of life. Research shows that sleep deprivation may result in decreased performance and alertness, memory loss, impaired cognitive abilities, strained relationships, and occupational or automobile injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that exhausted drivers are responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 1,550 of which are fatalities, each year.

• The Elian Gonzalez Case, Dr. Kenneth Dachman January, 2011 by Dr. Kenneth Dachman [Source: Public Broadcasting Service, posted at Wikimedia Commons] As a successful entrepreneur with a Doctor of Philosophy in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology, I consider myself a socially active psychologist. In particular, I was not hesitant to take a controversial stand in the famous Elian Gonzalez case, which divided public opinion in the late 1990s. The case surrounded a 6-year-old boy, who was traveling with his mother and her boyfriend to the U.S. in a small aluminum boat that had a faulty motor. When the boat sank and the boy’s mother drowned during a storm on the way to Florida, Gonzalez and two survivors floated on an inner tube until eventually being picked up by fishermen, who turned him over to the Coast Guard. Initially, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) released Gonzalez to paternal relatives in Miami, but his father Juan Miguel González Quintana, who resided in Cuba, demanded his return. This was because Gonzalez’s deceased mother had taken him from Cuba without his father’s knowledge. While Gonzalez’s Florida relatives fought the extradition request, a federal district court ruled that only the boy’s father could petition for asylum. When the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this ruling, and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Gonzalez was returned to Cuba and reunited with his father in 2000. I took the position that Gonzalez’s father had the right to his child, despite the benefits the boy would enjoy living in the U.S. When Elian Gonzalez lost his mother, his father became his nearest living relative, the one who should legally retain primary custody rights. Although many people angry about the court decision attacked me for my position, I stood firm in maintaining that the boy needed a parent, and that the father’s desperate desire to raise his own son superseded the rights of Gonzalez’s extended family. I have substantial experience in the matter of custody claims, having authored the book Fathers’ Rights: Hard Hitting and Fair Advice for Every Father Involved in A Custody Dispute (with Jeffery Leving). The book simply tries to level the playing field for fathers in family court proceedings, by informing them how the system works and of successful legal strategies they can pursue. I consider myself pro-parent, rather than specifically pro-father, and I feel strongly that fathers have a right to take on the same responsibilities as mothers in raising their children. In a case where the mother is deceased and the child has a father who is able and willing to care for him, I feel that the father’s wishes should be honored, even though he resides in a country with which the U.S. is not on good terms.

• Larry McMurtry February, 2011 by Kenneth Dachman As an author, I draw on my own experiences to write books in business and science, and I appreciate the work of writers who similarly take inspiration from their own lives and environments. My favorite books are too many to list, but one of my favorite authors is Larry McMurtry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose novels, essays, and screenplays focus primarily on the old West or his native Texas. Born in Archer City, Texas and raised on a ranch just outside of town, McMurtry earned his Bachelor of Arts at North Texas State University in 1958 and his Master of Arts at Rice University in 1960. In 1960, McMurtry moved briefly to California for a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, where he formed a long-lasting friendship with the writer Ken Kesey before returning to Texas. McMurtry’s roots appear in his work through vivid descriptions of the landscape and culture of Texas. The town of Thalia that crops up in many of his novels, for example, takes inspiration from McMurtry’s hometown of Archer City (instead of the unincorporated town of Thalia, 80 miles away). Film adaptations of McMurtry’s work have met with astonishing success over the last half-century. Since his first novel, Horseman, Pass By, became the Academy Award-winning film Hud, McMurtry’s novels have been adapted into influential movies and television shows such as Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show, Lonesome Dove, and many more. In addition to winning the Pulitzer Prize for Lonesome Dove, McMurtry and Diana Ossana won the 2006 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Brokeback Mountain. McMurtry accepted his award in his trademark jeans and cowboy boots, reminding his audience of his personal connection to his work. Because of this personal connection, Larry McMurtry’s books serve as an inspiration to me both as a reader and as an author.

• An Interview with Kenneth Dachman about Fathers’ Rights, Dr. Kenneth Dachman March, 2011 Kenneth Dachman, Ph.D., consistently supports fathers’ rights. During the Elian Gonzalez case, Kenneth Dachman was outspoken on the matter. He believed that authorities should return the boy to his father because Mr. Gonzalez’s rights as a parent overrode his son’s right to stay in the United States. In 1997, Kenneth Dachman co-authored Fathers’ Rights: Hard Hitting and Fair Advice for Every Father Involved in a Custody Dispute. Question: How do you think the American court system is doing with regard to fathers’ rights? Kenneth Dachman: While it is better than it used to be, the courts still have a long way to go. The number of fathers who win sole custody has risen by about 15 percent since 1995, so there is some improvement. Question: Why do you feel that the courts are still more likely to award custody to mothers? Kenneth Dachman: I believe that our society still idealizes motherhood. Subtle biases continue to exist, suggesting fathers cannot raise children as well as the mother. Even more surprisingly, I think people believe that fathers don’t really have an interest in raising their children. To some extent, we’re still stuck back in the days where gender roles were clearly defined and men worked while women raised the children. This has not been reality for decades, but the mindset still exists. Question: Why have you chosen fathers’ rights as a cause you so firmly support? Are you pro father? Kenneth Dachman: I am pro-parent, and pro-child. I have seen the pain that fathers experience when denied access to their children. Likewise, I know the effects not having a father can have on kids. Children need their fathers just as much as they need their mothers. It may surprise some people to know that fathers also need their children as much as mothers do.

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