Strong couplings between cavity modes in photonic molecules formed by two preselected nearly identical microdisk microcavities with embedded quantum dots are investigated. By continuously tuning the refractive index of one microdisk, clear anticrossings in the resonant peak energies associated with crossings in the peak linewidths can be observed. The coupling strengths are extracted by the coupled mode theory and analyzed by the model considering the effective potential confining the electromagnetic waves in the microcavities.