Recognizing post-traumatic stress disorder requires the following three situations. Reliving the experience that caused the trauma by flashbacks, upsetting memories, and nightmares that keep bringing up the trauma  is one.  Another is fear of certain persons, or going to certain places or any experiences that bring up the traumatic situation and feeling no normal emotional reactions.  The third are actual physical evidences of the disorder which are referred to as hyper-arousal.  These can be difficulties in concentrating, anger, trouble sleeping, poor memories or blackouts, unreasonable fears, and a tendency to be easily startled.

When there is a lack of emotional feelings due to PTSD, the result is a loss of desire for doing any of the normal things that once were enjoyed which is called anhedonia.  When this happens the person losses the ability to see themselves in the future because they feel their life will be short lived and they tend to separate themselves from others or in general feel dead emotionally.
 
To be considered a post-traumatic stress disorder, the person must have symptoms of re-living trauma, at  least three evidences of a loss of normal emotional responses, and two kinds of over-sensitive reactions that all last for the duration of a month or more that create considerable discomfort for the person.  When all this is happening, there is a recognized disorder present.  If this continues for more than three months the post-traumatic stress disorder is then considered severe.

An acute distress disorder will have similar signs. The difference between the two disorders are the duration of the signs.  For an acute stress disorder, the time required is from 2 days to 4 weeks and the amount of symptoms are fewer than for PTSD. 

Children will experience their trauma during playtime by acting out their troubled memories of the unsettling event.  When the child experiences the trauma in dream-state, the events of the dream can be very general rather than a literal memory of the experience.

There are similarities between post-traumatic stress disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder.  One similarity is that the emotions of the person become out of control and lead to thoughts of self-destruction, uncontrolled rage or acting in a passive aggressive manner.  Also the person will block out the trauma or feel like their life belongs to someone else or to another body.  Their feelings are quite unusual as compared to others or they are plagued with guilt, constantly feel they are helpless, feelings of being ashamed or become obsessed with the trauma.  This means they will either feel the need to be aligned with the trauma or seek vengeance against the person who caused the trauma.