As someone who is very sensitive to meds (e.g. 0.5mg of risperidone made me a total zombie) and ALWAYS gets withdrawal effects, even tapering, I would definitely taper. The only downside to tapering that I can see is that it takes longer. Where as the downside to stopping even 2mg abruptly is withdrawal effects, which could feel awful but, even worse, convince you or others that your psychotic symptoms are re-emerging and you need APs for longer/permanently, battering your confidence that med-free is even possible for you. I think that is especially important if they are unsure whether your psychosis is drug-related or not i.e. if psychotic symptoms re-emerge due to rapid withdrawal, you and your pdoc might falsely conclude you have sz for example and keep you on APs unnecessarily. (Does that make sense? I'm not sure how clear I'm being.)

I really think that a taper would give you the best chance of success at staying off APs, because a lot of people confuse withdrawal effects with psychosis returning.

Also giving up smoking at the same time might increase your stress levels, making med free harder - you might have to prioritise one over the other for the time being to ensure success. Attempting med free is generally best when there are no other stresses going on.

I wish you the best of luck with it though. As someone who has been AP free for almost 2 years, distress tolerance skills are key: everything passes, so the unpleasantness just has to be endured until then. You can do it!

All the best,

*Willow*