I'm a therapist who uses EMDR as my primary method and I've also personally had EMDR therapy for my own stuff. As a client, EMDR worked extremely well and also really fast on my problems (anxiety, grief, "small t trauma"). Recently I read Dr. Shapiro's new book "Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR." Dr. Shapiro is the founder/creator of EMDR (but all the proceeds from the book go to two charities: the EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program and the EMDR Research Foundation). Anyway, the book is very helpful and empowering. It's an easy read, helps you understand what's "pushing" your feelings and behavior, helps you connect the dots from past experiences to current life. Also gives lots of really helpful ways that are used during EMDR therapy to calm disturbing thoughts and feelings.
I have used EMDR very successfully with PTSD and many other problems. It's a very gentle method with no real "down-side" so that in the hands of a professional EMDR therapist, there should be no freak-outs or worsening of day-to-day functioning.
There is a ton of great research proving EMDR's efficacy and it is considered a first-line treatment for PTSD by organizations such as ISTSS (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation), American Psychiatric Assoc, Amer. Psychological Assoc, Dept of Veteran Affairs, Dept of Defense, Departments of Health in Northern Ireland, UK, Israel, the Netherlands, France, and other countries and organizations.
During EMDR you learn a lot of great coping strategies and self-soothing techniques which you can use during EMDR processing or anytime you feel the need. You learn how to access a “Safe or Calm Place” which you can use at ANY TIME during EMDR processing (or on your own) if it feels too intense. One of the initial phases in EMDR involves preparing the client for memory processing or desensitization (the 4th phase in the 8 phases of EMDR therapy). Resources are "front-loaded" so that you have a "floor" or "container" to help with processing the really hard stuff. This phase is the most important! These resources are what makes EMDR therapy tolerable for dealing with VERY difficult stuff.
Unlike CBT, there's no homework. Unlike Exposure Therapy, you're not forced to relive the horrors of bad events without relief. I can't say enough good things about EMDR. It's changed my life both as a person/consumer, and as a therapist. It's so satisfying to have someone come in for help and then to witness them get through their issues and finish therapy relatively quickly (compared to regular talk therapy, it's like night and day). I am both humbled by and grateful for this wonderful method that heals suffering.