Elements 9: Can't close application without force quit (mac)

I use Photoshop Elements 9. Sometimes it randomly freezes up on me, giving me the rainbow spinning wheel icon. This is a problem, but is really just an annoyance if I save frequently. The real problem is that when this happens, the only way to close Photoshop is to forcequit. However, sometimes (like now) when I forcequit PE9 under these conditions, the "application open" icon disappears from under PE9 in my dock, but the forcequit menu still shows it as open and it is considered open in my dock. I can find no way of fully quitting it, as it prevents me from shutting down/logging off or from opening Photoshop back up.