「童乩」(dang-gi) 意指一種能「降神」以替人祈福解禍的靈媒。他們在臺灣社會中既扮演醫療者的角色，卻又被形塑成病人的形象。因此，本文擬結合傳統文獻的記載、前人的觀察記錄，以及近年來的田野調查資料，論述童乩在臺灣社會中從事醫療工作的情形，分析他們的疾病觀念和醫療方法，並探討他們被指稱為病人的緣由。 根據方志作者和其他士人對於臺灣「習俗」的描述，從十六世紀中葉一直到十九世紀末葉，臺灣民眾生病之時通常會請童乩以禳除、祭禱、賜藥之法治病。到了日治時期 (1895-1945)，從日本殖民政府的官方檔案及來臺日本學者的研究可以知道，童乩依然扮演著醫療者的角色。一九四五年之後，臺灣雖然脫離日本的統治，但是，童乩在臺灣社會中的角色並沒有太大的變化。根據人類學家、民俗學者、醫師、醫學研究者，以及基督教宣教師的調查和研究，童乩仍持續在社會中替人治病。 童乩大多將病因歸咎於鬼神或超自然力量。他們認為，鬼神（尤其是瘟神與疫鬼）降禍、「厲鬼」作怪、沖犯凶神惡煞、祖先作祟、符咒與巫術的力量，以及靈魂受驚，都是人生病的主要原因。不過，童乩也不否認，人的「道德」瑕疵和行為過錯也會引發因果報應或鬼神譴祟而招致疾病。此外，他們也接受傳統中國醫學或現代西方醫學的若干說法，從生理和心理的層面解釋病因。至於治療的方法，基本上都是仰賴神明或儀式（法術）的力量，可以稱之為「儀式治療」(ritual healing)，包括：禳除、祭禱、歸依、藥方、按摩和指示轉診。 童乩雖然以醫療為其主要職能，但是，也被一些傳統的士大夫、近代的官員、心理學家、精神科醫師、基督教的宣教師、人類學家和民俗學者視為一種「病人」。他們認為，童乩在宗教儀式中的奇異舉止，包括降神的方式、神靈附體說話、以利器自傷等，都是一種「催眠」的後續反應或是「人格解離」後的現象。同時，他們也認為，不少童乩在成乩之前就有先天性的精神或人格缺陷、精神異常，或是曾罹患精神疾病。 根據最近幾年的田野調查資料來看，在臺灣童乩的成乩 (initiation) 過程中，疾病的確扮演了一個非常重要的角色，但是，並非人人都有罹病的經驗，而且，更重要的是，其所罹患的疾病，只有少部分才是精神疾病。 不過，若從社會的角度來看，童乩確實很容易被歸類為「病人」或「異常者」。他們通常被視為傷風敗俗、違法亂紀、欺惑百姓、蠹壞財物的「不良」份子，是有害之人，是某些社會弊病的源由，是臺灣邁向「現代文明」之路的一種障礙。而多數童乩在現實社會中則是生活「艱苦」。他們在成乩之前，除了疾病的折磨之外，通常還經歷過不少挫折和苦痛，身心俱疲，生活困頓。在成乩之後，童乩除了健康獲得改善之外，經濟方面大多並不寬裕，必須接受家人、親友的救助和供養。再加上他們又大多是低學歷者，因此，可以說是臺灣社會的「弱勢」族群。 無論如何，就像其他社會的巫者 (shaman) 一樣，對於童乩來說，挫折、創傷或痛苦的經驗是他們成巫過程中的必經之路，而在自我醫治（或接受神療）的過程中，他們也逐漸獲得醫療他人的能力，因此，也有人稱呼他們為「受創的醫者」(wounded healer)。

Taiwanese shamans, known as dang-gi 童乩, may refer to persons of either sex who serve as intermediaries between humans and spirits. When possessed, they pray for blessings and remove misfortune for their clients. In Taiwanese society, they play the role of healers, but are also depicted as patients. This paper intends, therefore, to investigate the shamans’ engagement in medical affairs in Taiwan, analyze their conceptions of disease and healing methods, and explain the reasons why they are regarded as patients. This research relies heavily on both historical documents and materials gathered from fieldwork. According to the description of Taiwanese customs written by authors of local gazetteers and other scholars of the Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1911), from the middle of the sixteenth century to the late nineteenth century, the common people in Taiwan, when sick, would generally ask shamans to heal them by means of such methods as exorcism, prayer, and prescriptions. During the period of Japanese rule (1895-1945), we know from official documents of the colonial government and studies of Japanese scholars in Taiwan, that shamans continued to play the role of healers. After 1945, despite the fact that Taiwan broke away from Japanese rule, the roles of shamans in Taiwanese society barely changed. According to the research of anthropologists, folklorists, medical doctors, researchers in medical science, and Protestant pastors, shamans continued to treat people for diseases from the forties on. Most Taiwanese shamans impute the cause of disease to spiritual beings or supernatural forces. Their diagnoses for a particular illness might include: punishment by spiritual beings (particularly gods of pestilence), being haunted by the souls of deceased persons (particularly the so-called malicious ghosts) , offending demons or breaking taboos, bewitchment, and the soul being frightened. However, they do not deny that people’s moral defects and mistakes in conduct may also provoke karmic retribution or demonic punishment in the form of disease. In addition, they accept several theories of traditional Chinese medicine and modern Western medicine that explain the causes of disease at physiological and psychological levels. For treatment, they basically all rely upon the power of deities or rituals which may be called “ritual healing,” including exorcism, prayer, conversion, medicinal prescriptions offered by deities, divine massage, and turning the patient over to medical authorities on the advice of a deity. Though the major function of shamans in Taiwanese society is healing, a few traditional literati, modern officials, psychologists, psychiatrists, Protestant pastors, anthropologists and folklorists have regarded them as a kind of patient. They believe that the strange deportment of shamans during their religious practices including the way they bring down the spirits, speak in tongues while possessed, mutilate themselves and so on, is the effect of a kind of hypnosis, or a state of hysterical dissociation. At the same time, they also believe that numerous shamans, before their initiation, have congenital mental abnormalities, paranoid personalities, or that they suffer from other mental disorders. According to data derived from the latest fieldwork, illness undoubtedly plays a very important role in shamanistic initiation in Taiwan, but by no means has every shaman experienced fallen sick, and furthermore, only a small part of the diseases that they have suffered from relate to psychiatric problems. Nevertheless, shamans are very easily categorized as sick or abnormal in social or cultural terms. They are often regarded as offenders of public decency, illegal troublemakers, deceivers of the people, and harmful undesirables; as detrimental individuals, the cause of social corruption; and as obstacles on Taiwan’s road towards modernity. Furthermore, most shamans indeed endure many hardships in life. Before their initiation, apart from the torments of illness, they usually have numerous traumatic experiences. They are frequently weary in body and mind, and live in poverty. After their initiation, apart from gaining some improvement in health, most shamans are economically far from being wealthy, and have to accept the help and support of family members, relatives and friends. In addition, most of them are poorly educated. Consequently, they may be called an underprivileged group in Taiwanese society. Nevertheless, just like other shamans in other parts of the world, the experience of failure, trauma, or suffering, is inevitable in the initiation process of Taiwanese shamans. But during the process of self-healing (or receiving divine healing), they also gradually acquire the capacity of healing others. This is the reason why some people call them the “wounded healers.”