According to an article in the May 2011 issue of Scientific American magazine, entitled The Unleashed Mind: Why creative People Are Eccentric, “People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa."

“Both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase cognitive disinhibition—the brain’s failure to filter out extraneous information.

“When unfiltered information reaches conscious awareness in the brains of people who are highly intelligent and can process this information without being overwhelmed, it may lead to exceptional insights and sensations.”

The article by Shelley Carson implies a connection between highly creative individuals and eccentricity, even depression, without really explaining or offering a reason.

My comment:

Creative, ingenious people can be moody and depression prone, because of seeing the world beyond the five senses and customary accepted reality. They—even without conscious understanding of how they know—see beyond popular culture, despite, perhaps, trying to fit in as a young (or older) person. Their idiosyncratic behavior is an effort, albeit unconscious in many cases, to liberate themselves from the felt suffocation of cultural mores that seem hypocritical and unnecessarily restrictive. ‘Cognitive disinhibition’ might be somewhat of a misnomer. In the expansiveness of the brain-body-spirit nexus that perpetuates our survival, perhaps it's more a failure in cognitive focalization—a dispositional attention scattering, rather than brain chemistry disinhibition. 

Eccentric individuals to positively interact with society, need to channel their creative energy into pursuits that nurture their spirits and satisfy their range of heightened awareness. They need to exteriorize their inner creativity in some concrete, positive, self-nurturing way. Otherwise, they can become ne'er-do-wells or disavowing iconoclasts, dissatisfied and withdrawn from life and people. The benefit of their exceptional insights and sensations lost to them and others.

Carl