Perseverance Through Severe Dysfunction: Breaking the Curse of Intergenerational Trauma as a Black Man in America

by Reggie D. Ford

In Reggie Ford’s bold reassessment of the Black experience in America, he demonstrates that a new understanding of PTSD is required. PTSD, Perseverance Through Severe Dysfunction, as Ford defines it, underlines the darkness of mental health illnesses and behaviors that impact young Black men and have plagued Black Americans for generations.

But his reassessment is not doom and gloom. Instead, Ford implores that we turn pain into peace. His uplifting message shows that by realizing, accepting, and treating mental health with grace, kindness, and appreciation of the backgrounds of those needing support, we can reduce the significant impact of PTSD and other mental conditions on not just Black, but all people.

Ford uses his own traumatic experiences to inform his call to action. He takes his impoverished and scarred childhood and turns it into a life of promise and abundance. His memoir shines a light on the intergenerational impact of unaddressed mental health issues, showing how the power of a familial network can help or severely harm an individual’s battle with mental health illnesses. He writes searingly of the overwhelming odds and systemic racism that must be overcome by Black Americans in order to reach the heights he has scaled. Ford’s own heartbreaking story is yet an optimistic one, intended to show that mental health has a real and demonstrable effect on Black Americans, but that it can be overcome.

PTSD places one man’s experiences in the realm of the broad sociopolitical issues that affect so many Americans. Ford emphasizes that the trauma of society creates situations of mental health issues and behaviors that hold back so many. But he also believes there is room for hope, that his own experiences of overcoming so many hardships and difficulties offer a path for others to follow. Immense suffering, Ford believes, can lead to improbable success.

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 19, 2021

Reviews

[Angela Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

This is a good book and I think that other people would like to read it. I would recommend it.

[Anne Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible memoir which is applicable to anyone. Reggie’s story is incredible and inspiring. He doesn’t sugarcoat any of the trauma, but instead recognizes it. I related to several parts, learned new things in parts and in parts recognized the need for change in all of us.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the last several years I have read and learned about the Black tax (Kiese Laymon's Heavy), mass incarceration (Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow), the stunted lifespans of Black Americans (Kenya Barris's Blackish), and the exhaustion of being Black in white spaces (Austin Channing Brown's I'm Still Here). What I had not read until now was a memoir which wove together the experience of living with the weight of all of these things.

Reggie Ford chronicles his own experiences with the dispassionate remove of someone who survived by normalizing dysfunction and numbing himself to all its associated agony. Later he builds toward his own reckoning with what this normalization has cost him in terms of the damage to his own mental health. Part of his recovery is reading about the historical experiences of being Black in America, and he both finds himself and comes to understand himself within the context of those stories.

He brings the same intensity and focus which fueled his academic and athletic success to the task of speaking directly to readers who have lived through the same dysfunction - and to those readers who might have previously denied that any such challenges still exist for Black people in America.

[William Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing this book, one truth rang loud and clear: as a Black man in America, no matter your upbringing—whether raised in poverty or privilege, with two parents or none, surrounded by love or scarred by trauma—you are not alone.
PTSD doesn’t just tell a story; it dismantles the lie that Black men must suffer in silence. He boldly confronts the systems in this country that were built on the dehumanization of Black people, and shows how those systems still affect us today—not just economically or socially, but emotionally and psychologically. This book reminds us that the pain many of us carry is not just personal—it’s generational. It’s systemic. And it’s real.
But more importantly, it reminds us that healing is possible.
Ford challenges the “don’t be weak” or “Black don’t crack” narrative that so many Black people are taught from a young age. He encourages vulnerability, honesty, and emotional awareness. He reminds us that strength doesn’t mean silence—strength means facing your pain, embracing your story, and choosing to rise from it.
This book is a call to break cycles—not just for ourselves, but for our families, our communities, and the generations that follow. It’s about owning your past without being owned by it. It’s about realizing that trauma may shape who you are, but it doesn’t get to define who you become.
Most of all, it’s about community—about knowing there are brothers who understand, who feel what you feel, and who are walking the same road. You are not alone. And in a world that often tries to make you feel invisible, that reminder is everything.

This writing reassured me some things i once thought were impossible. Some feelings I was conditioned to believe didn’t exist. Some realities i face that i felt i shouldn’t experience or were embarrassed to feel, it’s just the result of the system I was born into. This story gave me the confidence that I belong, although this world may think I don’t. It has made my upbringing make more sense than I previously had. It reminded me that my feelings are okay, and i’m supposed to feel that way. It has allowed me to sympathize with the people around me and their situations. It inspires me to be better, not only for myself, but for the world that will come after me. I’m blessed I have the girlfriend i have because honestly without her my feeling would continue to be numb to feelings i am supposed to embrace. So thanks to her for getting this book for me being the peanut butter to my jelly. I love and appreciate her so much…this is only the beginning

[Dalyn Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perseverance Through Severe Dysfunction: Breaking the Curse of Intergenerational Trauma as a Black Man in America is a powerful, unflinching, and deeply human memoir that reframes how we understand trauma both personally and collectively. Reggie D. Ford offers readers far more than a personal narrative; he delivers a groundbreaking redefinition of PTSD as “Perseverance Through Severe Dysfunction,” capturing the long arc of emotional, psychological, and systemic scars that shape the lives of many Black Americans.

Ford’s storytelling is courageous and intimate. Through vivid scenes from his childhood marked by instability, poverty, violence, and the weight of unspoken generational wounds he illuminates how trauma embeds itself in families, communities, and identities. Yet in equal measure, he reveals the profound resilience, ingenuity, and determination that allowed him to carve a path toward healing and self-actualization.

The memoir excels in its balance of personal vulnerability and societal insight. Ford situates his own experiences within the broader context of systemic racism, historical inequity, and cultural expectations placed on Black men. His reflections on education, mentorship, economic barriers, and emotional survival are both searing and instructive, offering a nuanced window into the complexities of being Black in America.

What elevates this work even further is Ford’s message of hope. He writes not from a place of bitterness, but from a deep belief in the transformative power of acknowledgment, empathy, and mental-health advocacy. His journey from trauma to triumph becomes a roadmap for others seeking to disrupt cycles of dysfunction and reclaim agency in their own lives.

Compassionate, insightful, and ultimately inspiring, Perseverance Through Severe Dysfunction is a vital contribution to conversations about mental health, generational trauma, and what it truly means to heal. It is both a personal reckoning and a call to collective responsibility.

[Morgan Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wiow. There's so much in this small package. Reggie Ford’s remarkable book is a gracefully written coming of age memoir, a timely commentary on life as a black man in America, and a heartfelt testimony about the the implosion and redefinition of family. But above all, it’s a compelling STORY that is both painfully authentic and beautifully redemptive. Kudos to Reggie for the courage, candor, and grace it took to put his pain and hope into words for the rest of us. If it’s true that “hurt people hurt people,” Reggie has demonstrated that it’s equally true that the cycle CAN be broken. I hope it is widely read!

[Marcia Sloan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring Thought Provoking Read

Reggie Ford lays out his life experiences in a clear compelling book. You laugh, cry and and are moved by his thoughtfulness and hope. Reggie helps you to understand his pain and his intergenerational pain caused by broken lives. He gives the reader a roadmap of real solutions coupled with faith and hope so that you the reader can see how to find peace through healing. Well done.

[Maris Masel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reggies story is both riveting and tragic, leaving you with a deeper respect and profound empathy for the challenges the African American community continues to endure. This book rocks your soul. It opens your eyes and your heart. It is the truth. I highly recommend everyone read this book to travel through Reggie’s journey to hope, faith and ultimately love.

[Daniel Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on the description, I expected it to be more self-help/educational rather than personal story, but the book itself was Very solid. I would read this book again. It was not an easy read (lots of trauma, unsurprisingly) but it was a good read.