Panic disorder (PD) is a common mental disorder [1]–[3], which is thought to involve aberrant cognitive features such as catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations even during the inter-attack conditions [4]. The lifetime prevalence of PD with or without agoraphobia is about 3–4% [5]. PD is associated with other psychiatric disorders [1]–[2] and a high risk of suicidal attempts [6]. Recent studies emphasize the importance of panic syndromes as a significant source of disability in the general population [2], [7]. It has been argued that the pathophysiology of PD results from dysfunctions in neural microcircuits such as fronto-temporo-limbic circuits [8]-[9]. A number of neuroimaging studies have demonstrated aberrant brain activity in these cortical areas not only during panic attacks [10]–[11] but also during resting [12]–[17]. Furthermore, factor analyses of functional connectivity of spontaneous fMRI-BOLD signal fluctuations, which yields so-called resting-state networks [18]–[24] demonstrated aberrant RSNs in patient with anxiety disorders [25]–[28].
