"Like all virtues, true altruism is rare."
Altruism can be considered as a defense of the Ego, a form of sublimation in which the person copes with anxiety by helping others. By focusing attention on the needs of the other, people with altruistic vocations such as medicine or teaching relegate their own needs to the background thus avoiding facing or even acknowledging them. In this way, people who care for the elderly or disabled tend to feel high anxiety and stress when their role as caregiver disappears.
This altruism, understood as a defense of the ego, should be distinguished from "true altruism." The first is, above all, a way of covering up uncomfortable emotions; the second, instead, is a means to an external end, such as alleviating hunger or poverty.
Altruistic acts can become interested:
1) Because they mitigate anxiety,
2) because they bring pleasant feelings of pride and satisfaction,
3) because they provide an expectation of honor or reciprocity or
4) because they provide the belief to ensure us a place in heaven.
5) If it's not for any of the above reasons, maybe it's because, at the very least, they alleviate unpleasant feelings of guilt or shame for not having acted.
Although altruistic acts are usually guided by compassion, it doesn't have to always be that way.
I leave you with a video of the Networks program on altruism:
Article written by Nuria Álvarez. More information about Nuria here