The development of Paul Tournier's médecine de la personne as a relational body/mind/spirit approach to healthcare provision is outlined in this paper. His holistic understanding of the nature of the person may assist psychiatrists, and other health professionals, to reintegrate the psychosocial/transcultural and neurosciences, and to develop the healing relationship with patients that is central to person-centred medicine.

This paper discusses an integrated approach to person-centred medicine and its role in the future of mental health care. The origins and current status of this emerging field are revised with special attention to the contributions made from psychiatry and to the implications for psychiatric diagnosis and evaluation of the three pillars of the Person-centred Integrative Diagnosis (PID) model: its conceptual domains (health status, experiences and contributors to ill and good health), the related evaluative procedures, the partnerships needed and the existing links and differences with people-centred care and personalised medicine. In spite of their striking complementarities person-centred medicine and personalised medicine do not yet have substantial bridges built between them. Knowledge transfer and coordination should be established between these two models which will cast medical evaluation and care in the upcoming future.