What to do/How to react ?

First, I'm new to this forum, and kinda nervous, so please ignore any bumbling. I'm not even sure this is exactly the forum to be asking this in, but...

My dad has been diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder (among other things ... Anxiety, etc.). He also deals with addiction issues. He's a recovered/recovering (whatever the proper term is) alcoholic (he stopped drinking when I was younger... 20-some years ago). He did drugs as a teenager. Now he has convinced his elderly psychiatrist (who my dad has admitted he can manipulate) that he has problems with ADD. I don't know if he actually does or not. I do know that he abuses the drugs provided to treat that. He gets a prescription for Ritalin or Concerta and uses a months supply in one week. Then he's extremely irritable and hard to live with until the prescription can be filled again. He also overdoes it with caffeine pills and nicotine. Recently he's been prescribed a new drug that, as I understand it, helps with both the depression and any attention problems (and isn't a controlled substance).

So on to my question...

Recently he said he thought my ma was acting weird. He was worried she was going to call the hospital. He said if she did call the hospital he was going to kill himself. I freaked. I've heard my dad say a lot of things, many I believe attributed to his mental illness, but I've never heard him threaten suicide. And he sounded like he really meant it. I don't think I'll ever get that out of my head.

But then he said this new medicine was causing the suicidal whatever (thoughts/threats). He said it had something similar to Effexor and he had problems with that in the past. Since I've had problems with Effexor myself, I would have believed that was it except he proceeded to tell me how he liked his previous treatment. How he preferred being "alive" for a week, even if he had to suffer through three weeks after that. And I realized what he really wanted was to soothe his addictions. When my ma got home (soon after), they talked an apparently sorted things out.

But I can't help but worry about the suicide threat. And while I wouldn't "call the hospital" (if it came to that, my ma would do it), that's always been the best way to sort out my dad's medication issues in the past (he has gone for a week occasionally - not often - voluntarily). But if this is all related to medication problems, and the best way to sort that out is the hospital, and the hospital means serious suicidal threats or maybe even action...

Days have passed, and it's like it never happened. But what do I do if it happens again? And how am I supposed to react when my father threatens suicide?

Hi! It sounds like he's putting you through a lot... If he threatens suicide and you think he'd do it, you should call the authorities, he needs help.
Maybe you and your mom could convince him to find another psych who can really help him, if he might listen to you. You could look into places that help people who have an addiction and ask for their advice or ask him to go see someone there.
Post in our addiction section on the forum too, if you like.