elements photo shop 12 [unable to make any changes to existing layers in saved PSD files.]

I have photo shop elements 12 and just recently i am unable to make any changes to existing layers in saved PSD files.  I have been instructed to check for updates(which are all up to date on both PS and on Windows) I have uninstalled an reinstalled the program multiple times, up until today this did temporarily fixed the problem, but this time still doen't work.   The error message that i receive is "Could not complete your request because of a program error"  and there is a triangle shaped icon with an exclamation point in the middle where any text is.  I am just trying to edit some wording.  Please advise on what i can do to fix this issue.  Thank you in advance for your insight and assistance!