There are reviewed and summarized several theoretical models describing various mechanisms of developing of laserinduced temperature and field instabilities in both absorbing and nonabsorbing microinclusions. The key points are different mechanisms of positive feedbacks between laser-field and matter parameters connected with laser-induced variations of both refraction and absorption. Most attention is paid to application of the models to investigation of laser-induced damage of transparent materials, in particular, evaluation of damage-threshold fluence. General criterion for evaluation of damage threshold is deduced from the presented models and discussed.