Try
1) Run Disk Utility (or wahtever it is called nowadays in applications/utilities I believe – I don’t mac that much anymore) and repair permissions. Sounds like the OSX is not allowing you to write over files during the update process, and the UNIX style permisisons get corrupted often almsot always something gets fixed.
2) reset your prefs by booting phothsop and immediately afterwards holding down Shift Ctrl option
3) Once fixed, go under help and turn off auto updates, casues more problems than it fixes automatically, and you can always do this manually.
4) Cutting down on coffee and some ginger tea will help the breath problem – just kidding 🙂