Hey JJGBirder! I'm currently in graduate school for forensic mental health counseling and I suffer with depression and anxiety as well! It can be very difficult. If it ever gets to be too much, definitely talk to your professors. I did that for the first time last semester and my professor was very nice about it. The problem was that I wasn't keeping up with my readings, I couldn't focus, everything seemed really difficult. Then I had my counseling externship, and it was extremely tough because I had all of my problems going on, but I had to be a counselor to these individuals who ALSO had so many things going on in their lives.

My new semester starts in 2 weeks and I am very anxious because it's my last semester. Meaning when I graduate I have to find a job and I'm finally going to be in the "real world".

Much of your fears are similar to mine, especially worrying that my mental health issues will be seen as "excuses". It saddened me when my supervisor at my externship actually looked at me and said, "Well you have this externship and you go to school, so you can't be THAT depressed".

People will be cruel and judgmental, but you'll also have the people who will be kind and considerate. You've made it this far and I believe you will be fine in the future!

If you ever need to talk, you can message me! Good luck!