Memory leak. Is there a way to install Photoshop 22.5 or older?

Perhaps try resetting Photoshop preferences?

(read this entire post before acting please)

Resetting restores Photoshop's internal preferences, which are saved when Photoshop closes.

If they become corrupt then various issues can occur.

Here’s some info on how to do that:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Manually removing preferences files is the most complete method for restoring Photoshop to its default state: 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually

The user Library folder is hidden by default on macOS.

To access files in the hidden user Library folder, see here for how to access hidden user library files.

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

Unexpected behavior may indicate damaged preferences. Restoring preferences to their default settings is a good idea when trying to troubleshoot unexpected behaviors in Photoshop. check out the video

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#reset_preferences

Learn how to access and modify Photoshop preferences and customize per your frequent workflows

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

And here’s an earlier forum discussion as an aid to understanding

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-reset-photoshop-preferences/td-p/12502668

You may want to backup your settings and custom presets, brushes & actions before restoring Photoshop's preferences.

Here is general info about that:  https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#BackupPhotoshoppreferences

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer:: co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

The most likely candidate for a memory leak is the GPU. On M1 it uses the same memory pool as Photoshop (that's what "unified memory" means). Even under normal circumstances, the GPU may eat up half of the installed RAM.

Monitor GPU memory usage to determine if that's the cause.

Another possibility is a third-party plugin. Plugins run outside Photoshop's address space and require their own memory quota. If a plugin uses a lot of RAM, that's less for Photoshop.

Photoshop should never "run out of RAM" under normal operation. It just writes to scratch disk. But it does need a bare minimum to run.

The desktop app only provides 23.0 as the oldest one.

By @roel_boonen

That’s an Adobe policy. They provide only the last two major versions in the Creative Cloud installer list. And when the next major version is released, as it is every fall (this month), the oldest of the previous two is dropped from the installer. So this year we get version 23 and 24, and next year it will probably be 24 and 25 if the policy is not changed.

You might be able to find installers for some older versions at prodesigntools.com.

(Mostly I get "Out of RAM memory" pop-ups and Photoshop shutdowns)