Adding Text & Images freezes up my timeline & displays a black screen on program monitor

THE ISSUE

Whenever I add text, a PNG or a JPEG into my timeline, it doesn't render and creates a black screen on my program monitor (whether I'm viewing the individual media or the sequence). Additionally, this creates lag in the project that did not exist before. After I insert text/images, the program monitor will also freeze altogether on either the black screen (when playhead is on this media) or on a frame from my footage.

Only audio can be heard at a choppy rate. Rendering in/out will not work. When I close the project, it does so successfully, BUT Premiere is active on my dock and displayed as "Not Responding" when I check it in Force Quit Applications. Every time I re-open and close these bugged projects, I always need to Force Quit Premiere to get it to re-open again.

I edit weekly, and this issue randomly began only today. I know it's not the image files, as I've used them before on previous projects.

Steps to Reproduce

Eding & any other task is doable without lag until these steps occur:

1. In a timeline, create text OR insert an image (PNG or JPEG)

2. Attempt to playback

Expected Result:

The new image or text is visible in the program monitor, playing smoothly.

Actual Result:

Neither image or text appears on screen, turning the program monitor black when hovering over the new media & creating severe playback lag or freezing.

• NOTE: When I close & re-open the project, the media will sometimes accurately display on the monitor, but when attempting to playback/interact with those files in the timeline, the monitor freezes up again.

Adobe Premiere Pro Version:

25.6.3

Operating System

MacOS, Sequoia 15.6.1

RAM: 48 GB

Storage: 494.38 (250.69 available) + 4TB SSD (2TB available)

Video Format:

3840 x 2160 | FPS 29.97 | File Preview: Quicktime | Codec: Apple ProRes 422 LT

• NOTE: I cannot share a screen recording because the content I am editing is unreleased and cannot be shared.

Comparative Information

• This affects new projects and some existing projects, but one past project had no issue.

• Problem began just today (was using text yesterday, it was fine)

My Attempted Solutions

I have cleared my cache from in-project, as well as directly from my Finder.

I have packaged my project to be opened as a new one, but it failed to complete, giving me an error: 

(-1 6 0 9 6 2 9 6 8 1)

I have deleted my imported images & re-imported them

I have restarted my computer & Premiere Pro

Closest "Fix"

Upon re-opening my project, it ran smoothly when focusing on sound effects. It continued to play back fine when adding in 1 new image & 1 new text. After adding more SFX, I played back my edits, which caused it to lag AGAIN when reaching the points where the images were added. It's not freezing entirely like before, but it freezes just when the image or text is supposed to be displayed.

Right now my best shot is just to close and re-open Premiere endlessly until I finish all my edits 😞