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Не могу отделаться от мысли, что ...
Не могу избавиться от мысли, что ...
In the phrase above, I feel more comfortable using "отделаться", while in the following phrase I opt for "избавиться". That said, I'm not sure if the other option in each is downright impossible. I wonder if "избавиться" tends to be followed by something more negative?
избавиться от моей компании
отделаться от моей компании
The version избавиться just points at the result of getting rid of smth/smb, while the version отделаться (sometimes, чем) means doing that with some effort or paying a price for it, which is not necessarily mentioned. An example with mentioning the price: отделался лёгким испугом (he got rid of some situation at the price of just being frightened a bit; you can't use избавился here). So there's an extra emphasis on the effort in your first example and therefore it might sound more convincing.
P. S. One more aspect of difference. The usage of отделаться is limited to cases where some animated (usually human) force is involved: getting rid of some annoying person (typically, of their presence but it's also possible to say отделаться окончательно) like а taxman, a creditor or a blackmailer; of a bothering dog, etc. - by doing, giving or promising them something. In case of annoying thoughts (as in your example) it is also OK, since their source is human (like, action of 'someone inside my head'). But you need to use the more general избавиться when speaking about e. g. a disease or some useless thing which you are going to sell or to throw away.
Although this distinction may not be strictly followed in usage, избавиться от has a connotation of permanence and profundity, while отделаться от is rather temporary and situational.
It's possible отделаться от without избавиться от.
отделаться is translated as to shrug off, to shake off
избавиться is a cognate of избавление - salvation, deliverence, so when one избавляется one salvages/extricates oneself, which is usually construed as having lasting effect.
That which one избавляется от exerts greater influence on or power over them.
In a collocation such as избавиться от болезни/привычки/проблемы/иллюзий/(any personal quality) it can't be replaced with отделаться.
Secondary derived meaning of избавиться от as applied to animates is to kill and as applied to inanimates is to dispose of. Отделаться doesn't have such connotations.
In Russian - English dictionaries both verbs have virtually identical translations.
In the dictionary Бабенко Л.Г. — «Толковый словарь русских глаголов. Идеографическое описание Английские эквиваленты. Синонимы. Антонимы» on p. 234 (and in other Russian - Russian dictionaries) both are listed as synonyms of each other, yet the examples for избавляться specifially, in my view, point at a permanence of the result
Чтобы спасти себя и весь отряд, нужно было быстрее избавляться от предателя.
Она как-будто хочет избавиться от отцовской кабалы.
