Durst was initially appalled by Tormented's graphic artwork, and refused to sign Staind, but changed his mind after being impressed with the band's performance.

Continuing, but expanding on, the dark alternative metal and nu metal sound displayed on Tormented, Dysfunction features a varied increase of singing and screaming, emotionally vulnerable lyrics inspired by singer Aaron Lewis' life, with a noticeable increase of melodic sections.

Critics compared Dysfunction to various bands, including Korn, Coal Chamber, Spineshank, Nothingface, Deftones, Tool, and Alice in Chains.

In February 2004, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying the shipment of two million copies in the United States.

On October 23, 1997, Staind met Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst at the Webster Theater in Hartford, Connecticut.

Staind showed Durst a copy of Tormented and Durst was appalled by the album cover, which depicts a bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix with nails hanging from a plastic frame, a buried person with a rosary protruding from the person's nose, and a knife impaling a Bible.

After hearing their four-song demo, Durst signed Staind to Flip/Elektra to record the band's album Dysfunction.

"[3] While Durst did most of Dysfunction's preproduction work, "Date said his only challenge was to capture the explosive live feel of the band and help bring out both their melodic and hard sensibilities.

[11][12] Gil Kaufman of MTV wrote that the album "doesn't share the heavy hip-hop influence of the band's new pals.

Staind's aggressive sound mixes the industrial crunch of Tool with the morose, heavy rock of Seattle grunge-rockers Alice in Chains.

"[3] CMJ New Music Report compared Dysfunction to Deftones' Adrenaline, Spineshank, Nothingface's Pacifier, Coal Chamber, and "Korn's non-hip-hop moments".

[6] After describing Tormented as "one long rush of hardcore brat-rage, a 900mph scream of a man smashing his head against a wall in frustration", Tommy Udo wrote in his book Brave Nu World: "1999's Dysfunction is the sound of a band trying to get to grips with all the anger and shape something else that will reach beyond the hard core of devotees; not 'selling out' or 'going commercial', just making it bearable.

An acoustic version of the song featuring Durst peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 10, 2001, remaining on the chart for 19 weeks.

CMJ New Music Report gave the album a positive review and wrote: "Generally, Lewis's plaintive, melodic and often beautiful crooning is pierced by spine-weakening guitar licks, making Staind a stand-out in the 'new metal' domain.

"[10] AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Other listeners, however, will likely find Dysfunction a little tedious, since there isn't a wide variety of songs on the record, nor is there anything catchy.

The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 5, 1999[28] with sales of over 500,000 copies reported in January 2000.