I started this properly for the first time, and being overly confident, chose Hardcore as the difficulty. I got through the first few chapters, but it is taking me way to many reloadings, and I was just wondering if there was a way to change the difficulty (e.g in the console). Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

As far as i know, this is not possible.
Why, just start a new game. The ofter you replay the more skilled you become, to discover even on hardcore mode the game isn't really that hard at all.