Women struggling to conceive could be suffering from emotional rather than physical problems, according to a controversial theory.

In The Fertility Solution Niravi Payne claims infertility can be largely overcome by positive thinking and emotional self-analysis - an argument dismissed by one of Britain's foremost experts.

Women who have entered Payne's 'Whole Person Fertility Program' swear by it, including ER actress Alex Kingston, who gave birth to a baby girl in March after trying to become pregnant for six years.

Payne, an American fertility specialist with 17 years' experience, believes infertility problems can be traced back to experiences in the womb or in childhood and early adulthood, which make women emotionally unable to let their bodies become pregnant.

Until those experiences are released or acknowledged, she believes, women may not be able to conceive. 'I believe the mind and emotions have the power to affect the body,' said Payne, who herself spent two years struggling to conceive. 'Our state of mind and physiological processes are interconnected.'

Payne believes that, if women trying to conceive are unaware of how their family's emotional history and childhood experiences have affected their reproductive system, their ability to become pregnant and carry it to term can be damaged.

'I recognise there are certain physical conditions that can prevent a pregnancy, but I have found that the majority of reproductive difficulties are responsive to mind-body fertility therapy,' she said.

'Seeing yourself as a part of a family system which has influenced your emotions, beliefs, thoughts and attitudes about sexuality, conception, pregnancy and childbirth opens new possibilities.'

But Lord Robert Winston, director of the Infertility Unit at London's Hammersmith Hospital, rejects Payne's findings for their 'wild claims of success'.

'I have nothing against alternative or complementary therapy,' he said. 'Many will make you feel better, more confident, more relaxed. But there is no clinical evidence to show they work as an effective treatment for infertility.'