The dark web – a hidden corner of the internet accessed through privacy-preserving tools like the Tor browser – operates beyond the reach of traditional search engines and public platforms. Unlike the surface web, its architecture is purposefully designed to shield identities and activities from view, prioritizing anonymity over transparency.
Although the dark web has been around for more than 20 years, research assessing mental health differences between its users and those staying on the surface web remains limited. Its pseudo-anonymous nature and emphasis on privacy can attract people with mental health vulnerabilities, potentially drawing them into these hidden spaces.
A small but growing body of research points to a possible link between mental health challenges and dark web use. However, direct empirical comparisons between dark web users and surface web users – especially in the context of mental health – are rare. While such links have been hypothesized, they have not been thoroughly explored through systematic research, until now.
A new Florida Atlantic University study reveals significant differences in mental health between dark web users and those who only use the surface web, and sheds light on a group whose involvement in this secretive online space has kept them largely outside the scope of traditional research.
Using survey data collected from 2,000 adults in the United States, Ryan C. Meldrum, Ph.D., lead author and director of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in FAU’s College of Social Work and Criminal Justice, and colleagues investigated whether those who report using the dark web differ from surface web users on five indicators of mental health.
Published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, the study finds that dark web users reported significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and paranoid thoughts compared to surface web users. Additionally, there were significant differences between dark web users and surface web users regarding suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-injury, and digital self-injury.
Adults who reported suicidal thoughts were nearly three times more likely to report using the dark web. Similarly, those who reported non-suicidal self-harm (eg, cutting or burning themselves) were almost five times more likely to report using the dark web, and people who had engaged in digital self-harm (anonymous anonymous hurtful or negative comments about themselves online) were more than 19 times more likely to report using the dark web.
“Our findings suggest that many people who turn to the dark web may do so not only for privacy reasons, but as a reflection of deeper mental health struggles and a possible desire to socialize and engage in information seeking in an uncontrollable context that might otherwise be experienced on the surface web or offline,” said Meldrum. “This highlights the need for mental health professionals to recognize and understand the hidden digital spaces that some people may engage in. The dark web is not just a technological frontier – it is human, where vulnerability and pain are often invisible.”
The finding that dark web users consistently report greater mental health vulnerabilities has important real-world implications. Equipping social workers and mental health professionals to interact safely and ethically with people on the dark web could open up new avenues for supporting those who might otherwise go unnoticed. Likewise, raising awareness among parents, educators, and policymakers about the link between mental health and dark web use—just as it has with problematic social media use—could be a valuable step forward.
“The dark web may seem like a world apart, but the psychological challenges that many people bring to this space are very real,” said Meldrum. “We cannot afford to overlook these digital environments simply because they are used by a subset of Internet users. If we are committed to reaching the most vulnerable, we must be willing to engage with them – even in the most hidden corners of the Internet.”
Co-authors of the study are Raymond D. Partin, Ph.D., Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Alabama. Peter S. Lehmann, Ph.D., Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University; and Salpi S. Kevorkian, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University.
