Run photoshop CS in background

When I batch process images using the Photoshop CS2 Automator Actions, I can’t do anything else as Photoshop does not run in the background. Is there any way to make Photoshop do the processing in the background?

Does the fact that nobody has answered this mean the answer must be no?

It’s a shame if it is because one of the reasons I like automator is that I can start it running batch processes and then do other things. But if it will only do this in the background with software built into OSX and not 3rd party stuff then it is less useful.