Psychosomatic medicine was still in its infancy, and Tournier observed that the contemporary approach to illness was purely organic and failed to consider the patient as a whole. Tournier saw the need to consider not only the physical aspects of health, but also the psychological and spiritual dimensions. He therefore invited medical colleagues from a variety of fields and a number of philosophers to reflect on this with him. This international study group called "Médecine de La Personne" met for the first time in 1947, and has met annually ever since. According to the group: