PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION
Name - Abigail Sciuto - AKA Abby
Date - August 2011 (season 8)
Location - NCIS, Navy Yard, Washington DC
Psychologist - Rachel Cranston
This psych evaluation was requested by the Director of NCIS, Leon Vance, regarding one of his employees - Miss Abby Sciuto.
Ms Abigail Sciuto is a forensic expert at the NCIS agency in the Navy Yard at Washington DC. NCIS is the Navy Criminal Investigative Services and a federally funded and supported agency. All employees are civilians, but many of them are former military. Ms Sciuto has never been enlisted or commissioned in any part of the US military machine.
Numbers in Square brackets refer to episodes listed at the end of this Report.
BACKGROUND
Abigail Sciuto was raised in New Orleans by two deaf parents, even though she herself is a hearing person. She is fluent in ASL (American sign language) as well as English. She has one younger brother named Luka. She prefers to be called Abby, rather than Abigail.
Abby graduated with full honors from LSU with a triple major in sociology, criminology and psychology. She earned her master's degree from Georgia State University in criminology and forensic science. Sciuto's interest in forensics came from living near a wrecking yard and being intrigued by the cause and effect of the wrecks. [1]
Ms Sciuto spends most of her time in her lab at NCIS, when she is not off duty. Her best friend was Caitlyn Todd, who was a member of the MCRT for 2 years, before she was killed. Kate's replacement is the Israeli Mossad Officer Ziva David (Da-veed).
In the two years that Agent Todd was on the team, Ms. Sciuto acted more or less as an adult. Since the death of Agent Todd, Ms Sciuto's behaviour appears to have regressed to that of a child. Agent David (as Kate's replacement, is not Abby's new best friend. One possible reason for Abby's dislike of Officer David, is because of Agent McGee's friendship with her. Ms Sciuto may be jealous.
ADDICTIONS
Abby is addicted to CAFFEINE. Specifically to the soft drink called Caf-Pow. This has high levels of caffeine in it. It is not unusual for Abby to consume anywhere from 3 to 6 jumbo size cups of this drink PER DAY!
Since Abby is often working in the lab for as much as 16 hours per day,[6] Gibbs and other team members now bring her Caf-Pow drinks regularly throughout the day whenever they wish for Abby to drop whatever she is doing and work on some new clue or piece of evidence for them.
She once remarked that she needed her daily Caf-Pow because it "keeps my engine running". [13]
People consuming caffeine say that the substance gives them a "lift". This may be defined that they feel more concentrated on what they do, less fatigued, less drowsy and sleepless. These effects of caffeine usually last for 30-60 minutes.
HYPOTHESIS
It is my contention that Ms Sciuto suffers from Histrionic Personality Disorder.
This is a psychological and mental disorder whereby the affected person exhibits the following behaviour.
Diagnostic Criteria for Histrionic Personality Disorder (HPD)
- Uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention
- Interaction with others is often characterized by inappropriate seductive or provocative behavior
- Displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions
- Consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self
- Has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail
- Shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion
- Is suggestible, i.e., easily influenced by others or circumstances
- Considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are
IN LAYMANS TERMS
In layman's terms, people with this disorder exhibit the following behaviour.
- Any attention is better than no attention at all - so they often seek out both positive and negative attention.
- They constantly need attention, so they will do anything to be the centre of attention.
- They may control relationships by being overly dramatic and theatrical.
- They often appear to be needy and dependent.
- They do not make cognitive (well thought out) decisions. In fact, they often make rash decisions
- They do not like routine - they can get bored easily. These people thrive on constant stimulation
- They drop you like a hot potato if something or someone else more interesting comes along. They tend not to show loyalty, but expect everyone in their circle to be loyal to them.
- They often express a lot of emotion but it comes across as insincere and not real.
- They claim relationships to be more intimate than they really are - especially new relationships. It is not uncommon for a person with this disorder to be claiming a new acquaintance to be their new BFF (best friends forever) friend when they only met two days earlier.
- These people have great difficulty maintaining personal relationships. Normal people tend to get very tired of their clinging and needy behaviour
- The only way they can keep their jobs is to be permitted to work alone, as long as their eccentricities are tolerated by the employer.
- They get depressed quite easily and can sometimes develop mood disorders.
There is also a Mnemonic to remember the characteristics of Histrionic Personality Disorder.
PRAISE ME
Provocative (or seductive) behavior
Relationships are considered more intimate than they actually are
Attention-seeking
Influenced easily
Speech (style) wants to impress; lacks detail
Emotional liability; shallowness
Make-up; physical appearance is used to draw attention to self
Exaggerated emotions; staged and theatrical
OBSERVATIONS
Ms Sciuto has exhibited a majority of the above symptoms during her tenure at NCIS.
The exhibitionism is expressed by the GOTH style of clothes she wears. [all episodes]
She once purchased expensive I-Pods for everyone on Agent Gibb's team with her tax refund. This is attention seeking behaviour. [6]
She also is a very needy women. She does not appear to believe in herself or in her forensic skills. She constantly needs to have Gibbs tell her or show her that she is doing a good job. If Gibbs forgets, she gets sulky, and acts like a child. Abby has her attention seeking needs met through kisses and caf-pow drinks from Gibbs.
Because Abby will only accept attention from Gibbs, she will do what he says, without question. Yet she disobeys orders from the other team members. As mentioned elsewhere in this report, she consistently disobey orders from Agent McGee. But if she disobeys orders, then how can she claim that the team is a family? [15]
The provocative or seductive behaviour is exhibited in Abby's need to hug people. She is known for hugging anyone and everyone whether they want to be hugged or not. She appears to have no sense of personal space. She also appears to have great difficulty understanding social etiquette and body language.
Abby once stated in a Sexual Harassment Seminar that she loves to hug people, and was told by the seminar facilitator that she must ask permission to hug anyone from that time forward. She asked her teammates if her hugs offended them. They all said no. Most of the time she continues to hug without asking. [2]
She has been known to hug very hard, to the point where the person being hugged complained of not being able to breathe. [14]
Abby is very much a dog lover and loves all dogs. In one case, a military trained drug dog was found in a house with its handler lying dead from neck and shoulder wounds and bite marks. A packet of cocaine had been ripped open with teeth. When Gibbs' team showed up to process the dead body, the dog attacked one of the team members who shot the dog in self defence despite still being bitten. When the dog was taken back to the NCIS agency building, Abby immediately rounded against the injured teammate, Agent McGee, for shooting the "poor defenceless dog." and she totally ignored her teammates' injuries. [3]
Once the murder was solved, Abby tried to adopt the German shepherd, but her landlord refused to allow animals on the premises. So Abby emotionally manipulated the injured teammate (Agent McGee) into adopting the dog since his rental agreement allowed dogs. Agent McGee was the same person who had been bitten by the same dog. [3]
Ms Sciuto also names each one of her teeth and dreads going to the dentist to have them worked on. She religiously brushes and flosses her teeth and claims that noone in her family has had a cavity since 1922. Whenever she has a dental appointment, she wears all black clothing as if she were attending a funeral. [4]
When one teammate was infected with an bio-engineered version of the plague (Y. Pestis), he spent several days in isolation in Bethesda Hospital while he was recovering. Abby had been panicking because she had not seen this teammate for several days, and upon his return to NCIS, Abby ran towards him, and invaded his personal space to give him a hug, once again, without asking permission. [5]
One case report states that Ms Sciuto said that she was Gibb's favourite. Gibbs refers to the team leader - Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Her exact words were, and I quote -"But you know, I am his favourite, so he's usually pretty good with me." [6]
Abby has also mentioned being a control freak. [6]
Ms Sciuto panics whenever she is unable to see, speak to or be in cell phone contact with anyone on her team, especially Gibbs. This is because she is not currently the centre of attention. One example of this behaviour, was this direct quote spoken in a panicked tone to Director Jenny Sheppard - "Has anybody heard from Gibbs? I called and he didn't pick up. He always picks up." [7]
Ms Sciuto once dated her Teammate Agent Timothy McGee. When he tried to move their relationship to the next step, she refused. She was quite happy to leave the relationship as it was. Friends with benefits would be the best way to describe it. [8]
Abby insists on working alone - especially after the last lab assistant she had, tried to frame Agent DiNozzo for murder. [9]
When it was discovered that an ex-boyfriend had become obsessed with Abby, despite her breaking things off with him, and taking out a restraining order against him, Abby was placed into protective custody with Agent McGee. When McGee had to go out to the car to find a lost toothbrush, he specifically told Abby twice to NOT open the door to anyone. She did so, without checking through the door peephole first. The ex-boyfriend was at the door and so he was able to gain access. [10]
Abby was not scolded for disobeying Agent McGee's orders and allowing the ex-boyfriend into the apartment - because she is Gibb's favourite. Agent McGee was punished for not taking proper care of "the favourite." Agent McGee was forced to work on his knees whenever he was at his desk. Abby was later cited by the Director of NCIS for making "bad choices." At some other time, Abby got drunk and started asking why this was happening to her. She said she felt guilty so Gibbs asked her why she was feeling guilty. "How can you say that to me Gibbs? I didn't do anything wrong." [10] This idea that she did not do anything wrong, despite not obeying Agent McGee's orders, is very typical of a self-absorbed child.
On a trip to Mexico where she was teaching some Mexican federal forensic employees, how to solve cold cases, Abby insisted on taking the class out to the scene of the crime, against the advice of her protection detail, Agent Timothy McGee. The crime scene was on Reynosa property and the Reynosa Drug cartel were notorious for violently removing anyone found on their property without permission. [11]
Abby likes to be dramatic and theatrical. This is done by creating suspense. She is always asking her teammates to guess what she found, whenever she finds a new clue during the course of her job as a forensic expert. [12]
One Christmas, there was a psychiatrist dressed as Santa being interviewed by Dr Mallard over one of Santa's former pyschiatric patients. Abby entered the Autopsy room and pulled the Santa's beard, wanting to know if it was real. She even asked if she could have her photo taken with Santa. When the Santa stood up to leave, Abby quickly stepped to his side and took her own photo. Without asking permission. Dr Mallard was not amused. [16]
CONCLUSION
I therefore am compelled to state unequivocally that Ms Abigail Sciuto has Histrionic Personality Disorder.
RECOMMENDATION
Her behaviour will not change unless or until she receives psychotherapy, and is given new behaviours and scripts to emulate and copy.
REFERENCES
1 - Wikipedia character Abby Sciuto
2 - NCIS episode Driven
3 - NCIS episode Dog Tags
4 - NCIS episode Toxic
5 - NCIS episode Twilight
6 - NCIS episode Ex-file
7 - NCIS episode Requiem
8 - NCIS episode A Weak Link
9 - NCIS episode Frame Up
10 - NCIS episode Bloodbath
11 - NCIS episode Borderland
12 - NCIS episode Guilty Pleasure
13 - NCIS episode Mothers Day
14 - NCIS episode Shalom
15 - NCIS episode Leap of Faith
16 - NCIS episode Silent Night
Signed - August 2011
Rachel Cranston
Psychiatrist for NCIS