Objective To explore the relationships among emotional and social loneliness, social avoidance and distress, as well as anxiety and depression in AIDS patients, and to further analyze the mediating effect of social avoidance and distress on these variables. Methods The Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS),Emotional-Social Loneliness Inventory(ESLI), and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS) were employed to investigate 202 AIDS patients. Results The total score of SAS, SDS, ESLI, and SADS were 44.76±10.44, 51.09±10.84, 6.37±4.59 and 11.31±6.87 respectively. Depression and anxiety were positively correlated with emotional/social loneliness as well as social avoidance and distress (P＜0.01 for all). Social avoidance and distress fully mediated the relationship between emotional/social loneliness and anxiety, with the mediating effect being 17.6%, and also completely mediated the relationship between emotional/social loneliness and depression, with the mediating effect of 23.1%. Conclusion AIDS patients experience severe anxiety, depression, emotional/social loneliness, social avoidance and distress. Emotional and social loneliness can affect anxiety and depression through social avoidance and distress. Medical staffs need to help AIDS patients improve their perceived social support to decrease the feeling of social avoidance and distress and enhance their psychological health.